Peacebuilding traditionally depends on face-to-face meetings, but social distancing makes these difficult. This blog post looks at what this means for the ‘localisation agenda’ and how the problems could be overcome.
Around a third of COVID-19 cases and fatalities are happening in places dealing with humanitarian or refugee crises, or those that are more vulnerable. Indirectly, the pandemic is likely to cause increased poverty, starvation, higher child mortality rates, lower life expectancy and less education. In September, humanitarian and peacekeeping officials at the United Nations (UN) warned that the consequences of the pandemic could erode peace and worsen conflicts around the world.