Drones in the Time of Pandemic: Caution Behind the Hype

Posted by , and & filed under Beyond the COVID Curve, Law and Ethics, Security

Photo: Denis Agati via Unsplash

The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has mobilized national and international resources of all types, from funding of medical research to financial rescue plans, and has led to widespread state of emergency declarations. While the approaches adopted all over the world have differed from one country to another, an underlying trend connecting many of the measures implemented during the last weeks has been the growing importance of technological solutions. Essential assets in time of crisis, emerging technologies such as drones, Artificial intelligence (AI), robots, perform specific tasks (geolocate people to impose lockdowns, for example) and generate data for specific purposes, for example to create patterns of dispersion of the contagion to anticipate future outbreaks.

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Women’s Leadership Could Enhance Global Recovery From COVID-19

Posted by & filed under Beyond the COVID Curve, Gender

Clockwise from top left: Jacinda Ardern, Erna Solberg, Tsai Ing-wen, Mette Frederiksen, Angela Merkel. Photos from Wikimedia Commons: Ulysse Bellier, Pernille Ingebrigtsen / Arctic Frontiers, Office of the President, Republic of China (Taiwan), News Oresund, Johannes Maximilian

As countries consider how to recover from COVID-19 without a vaccine, technologies for testing and contact tracing are seen as crucial to enable us to return to work and school. But the one ingredient often missing in the strategy to contain (or eliminate) Coronavirus is effective leadership. Where leadership is evident globally, it is often coming from women leaders. It also comes from leadership that is gender-balanced, in that it exhibits both traditionally feminine qualities of empathy and care and traditionally masculine qualities of decisiveness and use of rational science.

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Context matters – Why Africa should tailor its own measures to fight COVID-19

Posted by & filed under Beyond the COVID Curve, Governance, Humanitarianism

African governments have been faster than most of their European counterparts in imposing measures to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak despite dealing with numerous other challenges. However, context matters, and for Africa, the political and socioeconomic consequences of the lockdown measures may cause more havoc than the actual virus. This brief identifies political, economic and social risks related to coronavirus responses in Africa and emphasises the disproportionate burden carried by women. It argues that localised measures, which include dialogue, transparency and flexibility, may be the only realistic way forward, while underlining the need for wealthier states to provide generous aid packages, debt cancellations and continued investments, in spite of current challenges, in order for Africa to pull through yet another challenge.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visits Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation COVID-19 Command Centre. Photo: GovernmentZA via Flickr

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The COVID-19 Resettlement Freeze: Towards a Permanent Suspension?

Posted by , and & filed under Beyond the COVID Curve, Migration

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered the suspension of international resettlement for refugees. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), resettlement-related travel will resume as soon as prudence and logistics permit. Meanwhile, individuals and families that were set to go are in limbo for the foreseeable future. However, this is not the first time that resettlement has been suspended on account of a public health emergency – and it may not be the last.

Migrants boarding the bus headed towards the processing center in Amman, Jordan 2015. Photo: IOM/Muse Mohammed via Flickr

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A Global Call: Will COVID-19 bring more peace to the world?

Posted by & filed under Beyond the COVID Curve, Peace Research, Peacebuilding

“The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war.” Those were UN Secretary General António Guterres’ words on 23 March when he launched a global call addressed to armed actors around the world to declare ceasefires. According to Guterres, the coronavirus crisis demands a redirection of all attention and resources, as well as facilitating the work of health personnel and humanitarian actors to allow access to the most vulnerable populations affected by violence and now the pandemic. The call spread widely; perhaps it was the first viral call created by the United Nations.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Photo: UN Geneva via Flickr

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Ceasefires in the Time of COVID-19

Posted by , , , and & filed under Beyond the COVID Curve, Peace Research, Peacebuilding

On 23rd March the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, called for a global ceasefire to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The appeal quickly gathered widespread support, and has already led to ceasefires by conflict parties in more than 12 countries. Strikingly, this includes a arrangements in Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria, three countries that have recently experienced some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts. But why do parties agree to ceasefires, and can they make a difference during this crisis?

Afghan Soldiers in 2010. Photo: ResoluteSupportMedia via Flickr

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The Specter of Post-Pandemic Revolutions Haunts Russia

Posted by & filed under Beyond the COVID Curve, Regions and Powers

A scene from the 2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution. Photo: Albergo via Wikimedia Commons

 

In these anxious days, it doesn’t necessarily take a flight of imagination to envisage some consequences of the still-expanding COVID-19 pandemic. The societies that had experienced turmoil before the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis will quite probably experience a re-energized surge of protests temporarily subdued by the health concerns. The unfolding economic recession is set to aggravate the preexisting tensions, so unstable governments will face heavy odds. Russia is sinking into an ugly crisis but can try to forestall and deter the threat of revolutions.

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Whose Needs? Reflections on Health Information and Minorities

Posted by , , and & filed under Beyond the COVID Curve, Law and Ethics, Migration

On 1 April, the Norwegian News Agency (NTB) reported that rates of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection among Norwegian-Somalis were significantly higher than among other foreign-born inhabitants of Norway. Hospitals are reporting that 30–40 percent of patients who test positive for the virus are from immigrant backgrounds. The government has now granted NOK 6.6 million to boost efforts by voluntary organizations to disseminate health information among Norway’s immigrant population.

Illustration: Indigo Trigg-Hauger / PRIO

The funding was granted in response to criticism of official communications about how the virus is transmitted, symptoms and government-imposed restrictions: In the Norwegian daily newspaper Vårt Land, Loveleen Brenna stated that

“[the communications] use foreign words , bureaucratic language, and the message doesn’t get through. In addition, there are references to official bodies and institutions that many people aren’t familiar with”.

Following the funding announcement, questions have been asked about the choice of recipient organizations, bearing in mind their influence in Norwegian-Somali communities, among other things.

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