Covid-19 and armed non-state actors

By Alain Délétroz

In many countries enduring conflict, important parts of their population live outside the control of the state, under the authority of armed non-State actors (ANSAs) or non-recognized entities. In a time of pandemic, when a rigorous, systematic approach to healthcare is required, the gaps that these regions represent in the responses to Covid-19 are ticking timebombs. These may prove to be the regions where all the conditions might come together to create fresh outbreaks of the epidemic.

Geneva Call has been engaging with ANSAs around the world for 20 years. As part of its mission to encourage those groups to respect humanitarian norms and the rules of war, it has managed to gain access to the most inhospitable territories. It has become a privileged intermediary with many ANSAs, but unfortunately, it is too often the only one. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Geneva Call has been urging ANSAs to appreciate its full importance and danger, both to themselves and the populations under their control.

It is essential to reinforce the following components of the multipronged efforts against Covid-19: firstly, to offer legal and technical advice to the leaders of ANSAs on their responsibilities in a time of pandemic, while raising the awareness of frontline combatants about their obligations to ensure, maintain and…