Renewed multilateralism must be embraced to combat COVID-19, says UN expert

A UN expert on Monday, 20 September, underscored the need for "renewed multilateralism" in order to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. While presenting a report to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Livingstone Sewanyana, UN independent expert on the promotion of an equitable international order, stated that the very concept of multilateralism was under significant threat in this time of great upheaval. He stressed that the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the globe can protect the health of the people around the world.

In his report Sewanyana said, "The equitable global distribution of vaccines, as the prime means to protect global public health, ought to be the most profound manifestation of the spirit and raison d’etre of multilateralism", as per a statement issued by the United Nations. The UN expert further lauded the efforts of all the people who worked under the "Access to the COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) scheme".

"In this time of great upheaval, where the very concept of multilateralism was under significant threat and with a virus that kept mutating and did not stop at borders," he said. 

In his report, Sewanyana stated that coronavirus kept mutating and did not stop at borders, adding that renewed multilateralism must be embraced, with a "more effective and more inclusive approach". He also warned against the exacerbated effect of unilateral coercive measures in the context of the pandemic, in particular on the health and well-being of women, children, persons with disabilities and other people in vulnerable situations.

The expert stated that he believed that, "unilateral coercive measures, endured first and foremost by the civilian population of the targeted countries, ran contrary to the essence of multilateralism". Speaking about the "two-track pandemic", he said that the high-income countries had access to COVID vaccine doses, while the low-income nations were having limited or no access to vaccines. Sewanyana stated that the high-income nations now had begun relaxing safety measures as they have vaccinated their population in large numbers. He highlighted that the low-income countries were facing a "very precarious situation" as they had limited or no access to vaccine doses that would protect them against COVID-19.  

Image: Twitter/@LSewanyana/Pixabay