The United Nations secretary-general is again urging all parties to conflicts to respond to his call for a global cease-fire to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing to the more than 20,000 civilians killed or injured in attacks in 10 countries last year and millions more forced from their homes.
Antonio Guterres said in a report to the UN Security Council released Thursday that the pandemic is "the greatest test the world has faced" since the world body was established 75 years ago. And he said it has already had a severe impact on efforts to protect civilians, especially in conflict-affected countries where weak health care systems can be overwhelmed.
His new appeal focuses on the protection of civilians, stressing that the most effective way to protect them "is to prevent the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of armed conflicts." He said that figure is almost certainly an underestimate because it doesn't include civilian casualties in Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Sudan's western Darfur region and the Palestinian territories.
In Syria, Guterres said hostilities resulted in the deaths of at least 2,404 civilians, including 466 women and 688 children. In Yemen, 3,217 civilians were reported to have been killed or injured, with children accounting for 25 per cent, And in South Sudan there were 1,405 civilian casualties, while in Somalia 1,459 died.
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