The Impact of Covid-19 on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
• Women appear to be disproportionately affected by Covid-19 • Pushback on global commitment to gender equality • Gender equality and human development are correlated: focussing on gender equality will have a catalytic effect on the SDGs • The increasing strain on peace operations is likely to have a negative effect on the WPS agenda.
COVID-19 will change the way the UN conducts peacekeeping operations in the future
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted UN peacekeeping operations. In the short-term, activities have been reduced to the most critical, rotations have been frozen, and most staff are working remotely. Most of the missions have adapted remarkably well, but even more extreme changes are likely in the medium term, as the global economic recession that will follow in the wake of the virus may force UN peace operations to drastically contract in size and scope.
Handelen med medisinske varer og Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemy has exposed vulnerability for pharmaceuticals and medical goods. Does globalisation create more or less vulnerability? - The majority of countries import all their drugs and only eighteen countries are net exporters. - Exports are dominated by Western Europa, with China and India some way down the list. - Globalisation has spread the risk for medical goods by an increased number of suppliers and less export concentration. A main driver is increased export from small European countries. - At a more detailed level of goods, the picture is more mixed, with growing concentration in some cases. - Export restrictions contribute to market collapse and higher prices, that particularly hit poor countries that import all their needs. - For Norway, European integration is important for medical contingency planning.
Crisis tests China’s relations to Europe
A new report takes the temperature on China’s relations to European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Norway is one of the places characterized by little controversy.
Norway: Crisis highlights normality in bilateral relations with China
The chapter describes the situation in Norway and is part of a larger report on China’s relations to European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation in Norway has been characterized by less noise and controversy than what has been the case in several other countries. China has contributed with protective equipment to Norway, by way of both commercial and aid-related deliveries. China’s role in the pandemic has been debated in Norway too, and Chinese representatives have used both traditional and social media to counter criticism and promote their views.
Preventing Organized Crime. The Need for a Context-Sensitive, System-Wide Approach.
Recent years have seen important developments regarding the UN Security Council and the UN Secretariat. The Security Council, which has increasingly recognized organized crime as a serious threat to international peace and security—especially in relation to terrorism—has begun using sanctions to deal with organized crime and trafficking in Mali and Libya. Further, serious and organized crime (SOC) police units have been established in several UN field operations, including in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Mali. However, there is still no UN-wide policy on organized crime, and the issue has been conspicuously absent from recent strategic documents such as the Action for Peacekeeping Declaration (A4P). This report argues that there is need for a UN system-wide approach to peace operations for preventing and addressing organized crime, and its links to terrorism. To achieve this, UN member states and the UN Secretariat should seek to consolidate and broaden its nascent law enforcement capacity- building police approach into a context sensitive, system-wide approach. Six specific recommendations for the way forward are offered.
COVID-19 and the consequences for international relations
Read our briefs and expert commentary on how Covid-19 affects developing countries and international affairs.
Covid-19 og globalisering: Et fattigdomsperspektiv på turisme og inntektsoverføring fra migranter
This brief is in Norwegian.
Lessons from the Ebola Crisis in West Africa: Community engagement, crisis communication and countering rumours
What lessons can we draw from the 2014-2016 Ebola crisis in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone? While both the outbreak itself and the context is different, there are enough similarities between the Ebola crisis and COVID-19 to extract useful lessons and best practices. In this research note, the focus is on three key lessons from the Ebola experience: community engagement, crisis communication and countering the rumour mill. In the world’s most fragile states, an uncontrolled outbreak of COVID-19 would have devastating consequences for the population. In a scenario where the spread of the coronavirus is under control in large parts of the world, the survival of COVID-19 in fragile states would also most certainly be a source for new waves of infections to the rest of the world. Not only do fragile states lack capacity to react adequately on their own, but their ability to utilise external support and assistance is limited due to low absorption capacity.