Geneva (Switzerland), September 21: A UN expert on Monday stressed that in order to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, a renewed multilateralism must be embraced.
Livingstone Sewanyana, UN independent expert on the promotion of an equitable international order, while presenting a report to the UN Human Rights Council, said that his report focused on the need for "renewed multilateralism" that is strengthened, more effective and inclusive.
"The equitable global distribution of vaccines, as the prime mean to protect global public health, ought to be the most profound manifestation of the spirit and raison d'etre of multilateralism," he said.
"In this time of great upheaval, where the very concept of multilateralism was under significant threat, and with a virus that kept mutating and did not stop at borders, it was essential that renewed multilateralism be embraced, with a more effective and more inclusive approach," the expert added.
He also warned against the exacerbated impact of unilateral coercive measures in the context of the pandemic, in particular on the health and well-being of women, children, persons with disabilities and other people in vulnerable situations.
Unilateral coercive measures, endured first and foremost by the civilian population of the targeted countries, ran contrary to the essence of multilateralism, the expert said.
Source: Xinhua