COMMENT | Peace, not conflict, is what world needs in this troubled time

COMMENT | The world is embroiled in conflicts, some took decades to be settled, others endlessly continue, all of them have had devastating consequences.

From Palestine to Afghanistan, Syria to Libya, Yemen, Ukraine and now Kazakhstan, the people long for peace and prosperity but do not have peace, either due to the lack of political will of the parties involved or because of their inability to settle the conflicts peacefully, or the interests of “war profiteers” require that the conflicts be prolonged.

While many existing conflicts remain unresolved, new hotspots are emerging, which, if not settled amicably, could lead to fresh wars that will benefit no one, except those who derive profit from them by selling their weapons.

Armed conflict exacerbates the difficult situation created by the Covid-19 epidemic in war-torn countries, where access to primary health care and coronavirus vaccination is severely hampered.

Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), rightly stated that “the world’s uneven response to Covid-19 and the fast rise of the Omicron variant shows how vulnerable we all are when large parts of the world aren't vaccinated.”

The ICRC, which since its inception in 1863, has worked to protect and assist victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence, "estimates that more than 100 million people now live in areas controlled by non-state armed groups."

Peter said, “if we want to end the Covid-19 epidemic, it is an absolute necessity to vaccinate people living in particularly fragile conditions - those displaced, marginalised or detained, the urban poor, and those living through violence and conflict.”

This means getting rid of "coronavirus disease" requires...