Statement delivered by the Deputy Permanent Representative of Estonia to the UN, H.E. Mr. Gert Auväärt at Safeguarding Civilians during a Pandemic: The repercussions of COVID-19 on the Protection Agenda
Thank you, Madam moderator, and all organizers of today’s event. And I would extend even greater gratitude to the speakers for their invaluable insights and examples of how the protection of civilians has been impacted, both directly and indirectly, by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In these times, the protection of civilians relies more than ever on your effective and coordinated work.
The protection of civilians needs continuous effort, or the progress made can quickly be reversed. As the attention of governments and the international community is on the pandemic, some conflict parties have sought to take advantage of this situation. Regrettably, for some authorities it has provided a pretext to adopt repressive measures for purposes unrelated to the pandemic. This means that the resilience of the civilians, as pointed out by ICRC President Maurer yesterday, is stretched further.
Unity in approach is key here, that’s why we have continued to strongly support SG’s call for a global humanitarian ceasefire and the need for the Security Council to pronounce itself on this. We need more protection, not less. And as many speakers emphasized at yesterday’s Security Council open debate: humanitarian aid for civilians in need must be facilitated, not impeded. In yesterday’s debate we also wanted to raise the role and protection of women, civil society and human rights defenders in the context of the pandemic – a key to mitigating the crisis.
I can assure you that in the Security Council, Estonia will keep striving ensure for greater compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
Video: https://www.ipinst.org/2020/05/repercussions-covid19-on-poc