The Effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Global Armed Conflict: Early Evidence

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As Covid-19 spreads around the world, international actors, including the United Nations, have called for a stop to armed conflict to facilitate efforts to fight the pandemic. At the same time, coronavirus may also trigger and intensify armed conflict due to its negative economic consequences and by offering windows of opportunity to opposition movements to attack distracted and weakened incumbents. We use real-time data on the spread of Covid-19, governmental lockdown policies, and battle events…

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Times of unprecedented crisis present unique opportunities for unprecedented action

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The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed massive inequalities within our societies and has brought to light the unique burdens that women globally carry. As we respond to the impacts of COVID-19, both in the immediate and long term, we have an unprecedented opportunity to completely redesign our ways of living through innovative and large-scale action that can cater for the magnitude of transforming the African continent. The allocation of response resources should be dually focused on…

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Comparative strategic approaches to COVID-19 in Africa: Balancing public interest with civil liberties

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As COVID-19 spreads rapidly across Africa, causing havoc to economies and disruption to already fragile healthcare systems, it is becoming clear that despite standardised global health strategies, national and local government responses must be tailored to their individual settings. Some African countries have adopted stringent measures such as national lockdown, quarantine or isolation, in combination with good hand hygiene, mandatory wearing of masks and physical distancing, to prevent an impending healthcare crisis. The impact of…

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COVID-19: Youth and education: Impacts and options

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Even before COVID-19, the world was facing an educational crisis highlighted by the difficulties in achieving SDG4. According to the World Bank, around 53% of young people in low-and middle-income countries live in “learning poverty”. The closure of schools, a measure taken everywhere in many countries to facilitate ‘physical distancing’ and reduce the risk of contamination, is likely to worsen this crisis in the coming times and make it impossible to reach the goal of…

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COVID-19: Are children able to continue learning during school closures?

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In response to the unprecedented educational challenges created by school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 90 per cent of countries have implemented some form of remote learning policy. This factsheet estimates the potential reach of digital and broadcast remote learning responses, finding that at least 463 million students around the globe remain cut off from education, mainly due to a lack of remote learning policies or lack of equipment needed for learning at…

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Although it’s dangerous, we need to survive

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Burundian refugees in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda are enacting grassroots responses to COVID-19.   Read more

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Fighting the pandemic in the global South

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The author of this blog post argues that if we are to see the other side of the pandemic, we must emerge with a new imagination of how we are to strengthen and build strong working-class movements that will challenge imperialism and neocolonialism.   Read more

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Justice, the rule of law and Covid-19: three expert views

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As countries grapple with the coronavirus crisis, its implications for justice and the rule of law are becoming clearer. The pandemic is creating a host of new legal challenges, just as more courts and legal aid services across the world are closing, reducing or adjusting their operations. Inevitably, the most vulnerable groups in society are suffering the harshest consequences. In this article, ODI experts outline domestic and international responses to these pressures. Drawing on ODI…

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Key considerations: COVID-19 RCCE Strategies for Cross-Border Movement in Eastern and Southern Africa

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This brief focuses on cross-border movement in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) and its implications for development of risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) strategies aimed at preventing transmission of COVID-19 in the ESA region. Given the extensive risk of cross-border transmission of the virus and the imminent reopening of borders, such strategies are essential to containment efforts. The brief can be read in conjunction with previous SSHAP briefs on cross-border dynamics in the context…

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Protecting Forcibly Displaced Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Children face three dangers during the COVID-19 pandemic: 1) infection with the virus; 2) the immediate impacts of measures to stop transmission of the virus (school closures for example); and 3) the long-term impact of the resulting economic crisison social and economic development with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals. Their impact on children will vary based on their age, gender, vulnerability, health, disability, family situation and the wide-ranging, dynamic conditions of their environment. This…

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