The coronavirus pandemic is making the human and economic cost of conflict clear. At the very moment where we need all of our resources to overcome the virus, wars continue to increase food insecurity, destroy healthcare systems, drive displacement and deny people their livelihoods. To compound this, the global economic devastation caused by coronavirus is going to be felt most acutely by the people already living in the margins, including the two billion people living in fragile and conflict-affected states. We simply cannot afford to waste the valuable resources needed to build back better on fuelling wars. Even with vaccines, diseases are often hardest to eradicate in conflict zones; as UNICEF noted, ‘In many ways, the map of polio mirrors the conflict in Afghanistan.’
This briefing paper states that we need to properly address the coronavirus pandemic in conflict-affected states, as none of us are safe until all of us are safe. The international community needs to work collectively, channel appropriate funding to address the root causes of crisis and conflict resolution, and show the necessary political will to address the highly toxic and dangerous interplay between coronavirus and conflict.