NEW YORK, (Pakistan Point News - 13th Aug, 2020) The UAE underscored that the UN and its Member States must take a holistic approach to peace and security as the impacts of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic continue to highlight the need for a strong international response.
"It is already abundantly clear that the pandemic is worsening conditions that both lead to and amplify conflict and violence, from hunger to deterioration of basic services to hate speech," the UAE emphasised in a written statement to the UN Security Council for its open debate on pandemics and the challenges to peacebuilding and sustaining peace.
Focusing on promoting a holistic approach to sustain and foster peace and security, the UAE stated that the UN and the Member States should continue to empower its Resident Coordinators around the world to facilitate the international response to COVID-19, as well as enhance the UN’s work on preparedness and peacebuilding. The UAE stressed that the holistic approach is only possible through lockstep coordination among the diverse UN system, noting that the Resident Coordinators are best placed to facilitate the development, humanitarian, and security pillars of the UN that work hand-in-hand toward collective outcomes.
The UAE said that heads of missions authorised by the Security Council should systematically liaise with Resident Coordinators to identify the contributions they make to pandemic recovery and long-term peace and security. The UAE also added that Resident Coordinators should also be at the front and centre in the work of the UN’s Peacebuilding Commission and Fund.
The UAE welcomed the trend of including additional international organisations and other stakeholders in efforts to diversify UN country teams. It emphasised that diverse country teams lead to better coordination, resource mobilisation, and outcomes for affected communities and individuals.
Stressing that gender equality is central to durable peace and economic recovery, the UAE underlined that the international community must accelerate efforts to mainstream gender in peace and security. "Women and girls have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, like other crises, further prompting to ensure that the Security Council is always briefed on the role of women in peacebuilding and peace processes. In this regard, the UAE also stated that Council must ensure that its mandated missions have sufficient gender resources and that UN peace and security activities have gender metrics linked to personnel performance evaluation," according to the UAE statement.
Furthermore, the UAE encouraged the UN to move toward risk-informed anticipatory action, with a special focus on conflict prevention, noting that credible warnings of factors that could worsen or enable conflicts should be matched by increased and coordinated development, humanitarian, and peacebuilding action to prevent or mitigate the conflict. The UAE added that risk-informed action could result in the Security Council’s earlier mobilization of mandates and resources.
