UN chief deplores lack of ceasefire during virus

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday bemoaned the failure to heed his call for a ceasefire in conflicts around the world to aid the fight against COVID-19. “A global ceasefire would create conditions for a stronger response to the pandemic and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable people,” he said. “I am encouraged by expressions of support. However, this support has not been translated into concrete action. “In some cases, the pandemic may even create incentives for warring parties to press their advantage, or to strike hard while international attention is focused elsewhere.

Since his call in March for ceasefires, announcements backing the end of fighting have been made in countries including Afghanistan, the Philippines and Cameroon. Conflicts have continued to rage in Libya, Yemen and elsewhere. Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told reporters Wednesday that “new and more deadly weapons (are) coming on the battlefields.

“This has been a trend which we have observed over the last couple of years,” he said, citing a sharp drop in the price of weapons. The latest UN report on civilian casualties recorded more than 20,000 were killed or injured in 2019 in just ten conflicts: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. Guterres said the figure, which only included verified numbers, was a fraction of the real total.

US states ‘manipulating’ pandemic to restrict abortion: Some US states are exploiting the coronavirus crisis to restrict access to abortion, a group of independent United Nations rights experts said Wednesday. Eight states have used COVID-19 emergency orders — which suspend medical procedures not deemed immediately necessary — to limit access to pregnancy terminations, said the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls. The group singled out Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. “We regret that the above-mentioned states, with a long history of restrictive practices against abortion, appear to be manipulating the crisis to severely restrict women’s reproductive rights,” said the group’s vice-chair Elizabeth Broderick. The independent experts do not speak for the UN but report their findings to the world body. “For many women in the US, bans on abortion during this pandemic will delay abortion care beyond the legal time limit or render abortion services completely inaccessible,” said Broderick. Those who do seek termination services will be forced to travel out of state, thereby risking their own health and disregarding public health guidelines, the experts said. “Abortion care constitutes essential health care and must remain available during the COVID-19 crisis,” Broderick added.

“Restrictions on access to comprehensive reproductive health information and services, including abortion as well as contraception, constitute human rights violations and can cause irreversible harm.