How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected armed conflict and political violence within countries? Focusing on Africa, a continent with a particularly high number of ongoing conflicts, this policy brief analyses the immediate and long-term implications of the pandemic on conflict and reflects on its implications for international peacebuilding efforts.
Although it is too early to fully assess the magnitude of the impact of COVID-19 on fragility and conflict in Africa, the pandemic is presenting long-term socio-economic and political challenges which could have long-lasting implications for fragility and security in Africa in 2021 and beyond.
The impacts of Covid-19 on mental well-being and the mental health and psychosocial supportĀ needs of adolescents in Viet Nam and Tanzania. It is guided by two research questions:
– What impact has Covid-19 had on the mental health of adolescents in Viet Nam and Tanzania?
– What interventions (digital and non-digital) have been used to mitigate or respond to these mental health needs during the pandemic?
The establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was a groundbreaking moment for global consensus on the shared rights of all human beings. 72 years later, international human rights agreements are often violated without consequence, with their impact on directly improving stateās human rights records modest at best. And Covid-19 has presented new, unexpected and unprecedented challenges toĀ achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, as well asĀ exacerbating suffering and violence from ongoing conflicts.
Governments in the Middle East and in North Africa (MENA) are tackling the pandemic in different ways, many challenged by weak social systems and growing societal frustrations. In relatively prosperous (middle-income) countries ā such as Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq ā leaders have used the pandemic as an excuse to suppress justified protests at their lack of accountability and failure to provide basic services. For international cooperation, which supports the functioning of legitimate, accountable governments and resilient societies, thisĀ poses a critical challengeĀ ā as theĀ case of Lebanon currently illuminates.
Media coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic has raised the profile of armed groups in curious and often contradictory ways. ODIās Centre for the Study of Armed Groups will seek to address these challenges in several ways.
