UN Security Council nears virus resolution, and perhaps a new path
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
February 05, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2023
UN Security Council nears virus resolution, and perhaps a new path

Coronavirus chronicle

BSS/AFP
26 April, 2020, 11:15 am
Last modified: 26 April, 2020, 11:20 am

Related News

  • The supply chain crisis opens door to resilience
  • UN urges end to 'illogic of escalation' between Israel, Palestinians
  • UN leprosy expert to visit Bangladesh
  • Hong Kong says 'hello' to woo back visitors after Covid
  • UN chief backs democracy for Myanmar 2 years after coup

UN Security Council nears virus resolution, and perhaps a new path

The resolution aims to support the efforts of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and of several UN agencies struggling to contain the devastating political, economic and social consequences of the deadly virus

BSS/AFP
26 April, 2020, 11:15 am
Last modified: 26 April, 2020, 11:20 am
Members of the United Nations Security Council address a resolution to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria during a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York August 7, 2015/ Reuters
Members of the United Nations Security Council address a resolution to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria during a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York August 7, 2015/ Reuters

After more than a month of controversy, a UN Security Council buffeted between the United States, China and Russia is finally expected this week to adopt its first resolution on the coronavirus pandemic, amid calls for intensified international cooperation.

A hopeless task? A wake-up call for multilateralist forces crushed by resurging nationalism? Or perhaps a first step toward a geopolitical reorganization and the recasting of an international body founded in 1945 with the express mission of preventing and containing global crises?

Diplomats and experts surveyed by AFP were less than sanguine.

Gandhi once said that being late can itself be an "act of violence," one ambassador recalled, speaking on grounds of anonymity to express impatience with the UN's top body for its embarrassing silence in the face of the worst global crisis since World War II. The Security Council has conferred only once on the pandemic, and that was in virtual session — a videoconference held April 9 at the initiative of Germany and Estonia.

The current resolution, jointly proposed by Tunisia and France, calls for "enhanced coordination among all countries," a "cessation of hostilities" and a "humanitarian pause" in countries in conflict.

The resolution aims to support the efforts of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and of several UN agencies struggling to contain the devastating political, economic and social consequences of the deadly virus.

The text is partly "a face-saving device that allows the Security Council to claim that it has not been entirely inactive," said Richard Gowan, UN director of the International Crisis Group, a center for analysis. "But it does have some substantive benefits too."

Might the benefits of a resolution binding on all UN members be seen in crisis zones in Syria, Yemen or elsewhere in the Middle East? In Afghanistan, Colombia or Africa?

"A global ceasefire is very laudable, but the challenge is how you translate that into actions in individual country context," another ambassador said.

A P5 videoconference 

The French-Tunisian text merges two proposals negotiated in parallel over several weeks, one under Tunis's leadership among the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council (the "E10") and the other by France among the five permanent members (the "P5").

But while the two texts share the goal of improved cooperation and support for widespread cease-fires, neither achieved complete unity in its Security Council bloc, diplomats said.

The joint text is likely to undergo several amendments before being put to a vote at a date as yet uncertain. But several diplomats described it as "decisive," and insisted it will be voted on this week.

A principal obstacle to unity remains how the text, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, will ultimately refer to the World Health Organization.

The WHO's role in dealing with the pandemic has been vilified by US President Donald Trump, who complained it had not been transparent about the coronavirus and suspended US funding. China responded by offering additional funding.

And Russia, in talks early this month, wanted to insert language calling for an end to protectionism and trade wars and a lifting of unilateral sanctions.

One diplomat said only a high-level video arbitration between P5 members — possibly even consultation involving national leaders — could resolve such thorny disputes.

Yet might the permanent members take advantage of this virtual get-together to design a new post-pandemic world order — even placing the UN on a new path?

For one ambassador, such an initiative should be led by Guterres, standing above the melee and able to help sketch out a "war-fighting plan."

"Never have the world's seven and a half billion humans felt more strongly such an urgent need for global policy," said Bertrand Badie, a professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies ("Science Po").

"At the same time, nationalism has never been as active in the world."

What remains to be seen, he added, is how those two countervailing forces sort themselves out.

World+Biz / Top News

Coronavirus / COVID-19 / UN / UN Security Council

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • GDP growth drops to 7.1% in FY22, per capita income $2,793
    GDP growth drops to 7.1% in FY22, per capita income $2,793
  • Consumers should pay actual costs to get gas, electricity: PM
    Consumers should pay actual costs to get gas, electricity: PM
  • Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya. Illustration: TBS
    Development won't sustain sans political consensus: Debapriya 

MOST VIEWED

  • Tourists ride a tour bus in Hong Kong, China October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
    Hong Kong says 'hello' to woo back visitors after Covid
  • People wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak are seen at Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, China July 23, 2020. Photo:Reuters
    Pandemic to paradise: Chinese tourists return to Bali after three years
  • People walk outside wearing masks during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Harlem area of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 10, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
    US to end Covid-19 emergency declarations on 11 May
  • A nurse prepares a shot for Jonathan Halter as the German embassy begins its roll out of BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for German expatriates at a Beijing United Family hospital in Beijing, China January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
    Covid remains a public health emergency, says WHO
  • FIKE PHOTO: Medical staff moves a patient into a fever clinic at a hospital, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    China approves two domestically developed Covid drugs
  • People walk with their luggage at a railway station during the annual Spring Festival travel rush ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Shanghai, China January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Holiday trips within China surge after lifting of Covid curbs

Related News

  • The supply chain crisis opens door to resilience
  • UN urges end to 'illogic of escalation' between Israel, Palestinians
  • UN leprosy expert to visit Bangladesh
  • Hong Kong says 'hello' to woo back visitors after Covid
  • UN chief backs democracy for Myanmar 2 years after coup

Features

Say it with Colours

Say it with Colours

12h | Mode
Photo: Courtesy

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

14h | Panorama
Google must adjust to a world where content is increasingly generated by AI. Photo: Bloomberg

Google will join the AI wars, pitting LaMDA against ChatGPT

10h | Panorama
The megaproject Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant has a debt of Tk90,474 crore. Photo: Courtesy

Projects funded with debt need to be selected prudently, and implemented timely

12h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

ICB to withdraw Padma Bank Investment as return

ICB to withdraw Padma Bank Investment as return

4h | TBS Insight
Kiara Advani & Sidharth Malhotra's Wedding Update

Kiara Advani & Sidharth Malhotra's Wedding Update

4h | TBS Entertainment
What you probably didn't know about CR7

What you probably didn't know about CR7

2h | TBS SPORTS
US shoots down Chinese spy balloon

US shoots down Chinese spy balloon

3h | TBS World

Most Read

1
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

2
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

3
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

4
Photo: Collected
Court

Japanese mother gets guardianship of daughters, free to leave country

5
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

6
Photo: Collected
Startups

ShopUp secures $30m debt financing to boost expansion, supply chain

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]