COVID-19 has initiated a cascade of economic, social, and security problems at the national, regional, and international levels. Most urgently, it has overwhelmed the health systems of many countries. Since developed and developing countries alike have experienced these problems, they are globally visible. While developed countries have been focusing on solving their problems, they have disregarded the situation in developing countries. When considering the desperation of developed countries to combat the virus, it is worth highlighting that the situation in developing countries with weak health systems and fragile economies has been even graver. While the number of reported cases is unreliable in many countries, even in developed ones, it is exceedingly difficult to fully comprehend the pandemic’s effects in countries affected by conflict. For example, the conflict in Yemen has already ruined the lives of tens of millions of people, but the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, which is around two thousand, does not reflect reality.
Although we continue to assess the pandemic’s effects on the number of people infected or killed by the virus died, the “officially presented data is only the tip of the iceberg.” Taking into account the pessimistic picture we are facing today, this evaluation note examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on peace and conflict, especially in developing countries and conflict zones, and on disadvantaged groups such as youth, women and children, and refugees and migrants. The paper ends with a section on the measures that can be taken to mitigate the pandemic’s adverse effects.
