Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/index.php:1) in /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/wp-content/plugins/participants-database/classes/PDb_Session.php on line 377 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/index.php:1) in /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1758 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/index.php:1) in /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1758 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/index.php:1) in /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1758 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/index.php:1) in /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1758 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/index.php:1) in /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1758 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/index.php:1) in /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1758 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/index.php:1) in /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1758 Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/index.php:1) in /customers/1/6/a/combonimissionaries.co.uk/httpd.www/wp-includes/rest-api/class-wp-rest-server.php on line 1758 {"id":6683,"date":"2021-06-02T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/?p=6683"},"modified":"2021-05-27T12:16:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T11:16:32","slug":"covid-19-feeding-drivers-of-conflict-instability-in-africa-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/06\/02\/covid-19-feeding-drivers-of-conflict-instability-in-africa-un\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 Feeding drivers of conflict, instability in Africa \u2013 UN"},"content":{"rendered":"

UN Secretary-General, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, says women and young people must be part of Africa\u2019s plans to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, which is feeding factors driving conflict on the continent.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr Guterres said that many communities and countries were already facing a complex peace and security environment. He said that challenges such as long-standing inequalities, poverty, food insecurity and climate disruption were raising risks of instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne year into the COVID-19 pandemic, as we face the possibility of an uneven recovery, it is clear that the crisis is feeding many of these drivers of conflict and instability,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n

Since the pandemic began, the secretary-general had repeatedly warned of the risks it posed to people and societies across the world, especially in countries affected by conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the backdrop to my appeal for a global ceasefire to enable us to focus on our common enemy: the virus,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

He said that the appeal was more relevant than ever with continued chronic violence in some countries, and the re-emergence of old conflicts in others.<\/p>\n

Mr Guterres pointed out that violent extremist groups in Western and Central Africa and Mozambique, including those associated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS had continued and even increased attacks on civilians, creating additional major challenges for societies and governments. The secretary-general listed some of the fallouts of the pandemic in Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cEconomic growth has slowed, remittances are drying up, and debt is mounting. Meanwhile, some governments have also restricted civic space, while hate speech, divisive rhetoric, and misinformation have risen along with caseloads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe severe impact of the pandemic on young people \u2013 especially in Africa, the youngest continent \u2013 is contributing to increased risks. \u201cLoss of opportunities for education, employment and income drive a sense of alienation, marginalization and mental health stress that can be exploited by criminals and extremists,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

He said COVID-19 is also deepening existing gender inequalities and threatening hard-won gains made in women\u2019s participation in all areas of social, economic and political life, including peace processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge the Member States to make proactive efforts to include women and young people when shaping post-pandemic recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuaranteeing equal opportunities, social protection, access to resources and services and inclusive and meaningful participation in decision-making are not simply moral and legal obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are a necessary condition for countries to exit the conflict trap and get firmly on the pathway of peace and sustainable development.\u201d In addition, Mr Guterres said Africa had received less than two per cent of COVID-19 vaccines administered globally.<\/p>\n

He said although African governments had shown commitment to fighting the pandemic through a unified continent-wide approach, limited supply and access to vaccines, as well as insufficient support for pandemic response were now hampering and delaying recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of 1.4 billion doses administered around the world today, only 24 million have reached Africa \u2013 less than two per cent,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

The Secretary-General emphasised that equitable and sustainable vaccine roll-out worldwide was the quickest path to fast, and fair, recovery from the pandemic.<\/p>\n

He said this required countries to share doses, remove export restrictions, ramp up local production and fully fund global initiatives that promote equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UN Secretary-General, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, says women and young people must be part of Africa\u2019s plans to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, which is feeding factors driving conflict on the continent. Mr Guterres said that many communities and countries were already facing a complex peace and security environment. He said that challenges such as long-standing inequalities, …<\/p>\n

Covid-19 Feeding drivers of conflict, instability in Africa \u2013 UN<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/photo-news-4-3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6685,"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683\/revisions\/6685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}