Alexandre Zouev, Under-Secretary-General for The Rule of Law and Security Institutions, Department of Peace Operations, joined the United Nations in 1990 and worked for UNDP, UNICEF and UNOPS. He has served as Director of UNDP’s Global Programme and Special Adviser for the Prevention of Violent Extremism, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Tajikistan, UNICEF Representative in Kazakhstan and has held senior positions at UNICEF.
2020 was a year like no other in recent memory. The unprecedented risk of COVID-19 has caused suffering around the world. This year also provoked an adequate and much-needed discussion about the role of law enforcement in societies. In the face of a public aptitude crisis, we must not lose sight of the demanding related situations that result in containing this risk and selling an immediate and sustainable recovery. The fight for the defense of the rule of law is one of them.
When governments respond with a broader role and the full presence of police and other security actors, demanding situations can arise, adding perceptions of prejudice, disproportionate use of force and other human rights issues. There is also a threat that some states will. possibly use emergency forces to consolidate executive force to the detriment of the rule of law, suppressing dissent and undermining democratic institutions, that is, when courts and other oversight bodies are suffering to serve because of COVID restrictions.
Some countries have noticed a sharp increase in arrests. This goes against the desire to decongest prisons, which have suffered disproportionately high rates of infection, either between inmates and staff, spreading to surrounding communities and potentially triggering violence.
The distribution of emergency aid, medical supplies and economic stimulus provides many opportunities for corruption and fraud. Without effective establishments with transparency, accountability and control, much of it will not succeed in the intended beneficiaries, aggravating the social, medical and economic crisis and jeopardizing and delaying recovery.
The pandemic also provides an opportunity for armed teams, adding terrorist organizations, to discredit state institutions, exploit gaps in public facilities, and use public outrage, such as the closure of places of worship. Due to their inevitable exposure to the virus and competing new responsibilities, some armed teams are consolidating and expanding the territory.
These demanding situations can seriously undermine the legitimacy of governments, which is essential for effective methods of mitigating and containing public fitness crises, as has been observed in some countries facing the 2018/19 Ebola outbreak. governments to ensure that emergency restrictions on rights are necessary, proportionate, legal and fixed-term.
The United Nations responded temporarily to provide immediate assistance to national establishments guilty of the rule of law and security. For example, it has expanded police education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries to announce a HUMAN rights-based COVID-19. Working with our partners, we have also developed practical teams to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in prisons, recommendation on decongestion of prisons and a manual for conducting hearings in virtual courts, these fabrics are now used worldwide.
This technical practice has taken a step forward in criminal security and freed thousands of low-risk criminals, joining Afghanistan, Haiti, Guinea Bissau and South Sudan, the Central African Republic. through armed groups, for example in Darfur and Mali, helping to build an acceptance among warring factions.
When the pandemic decreases, we will provide assistance to governments to adopt post-action reviews, adding functionality under emergency powers, to inform long-term practices and reform where appropriate. accumulated decades of intelligent foreign practice. For example, we can help improve community-police relations, align the day-to-day work of police and other government departments with their respective strengths and control and accountability mechanisms.
In the longer term, the pandemic, like any crisis, can also offer opportunities.
In the criminal justice sector, for example, the effect of pandemic practices on state budgets, communities and rehabilitation clients so that desires for institutionalization are analysed, which deserve to come with the possible release of nonviolent prisoners, adjustment of detention and prosecution strategies and non-custodial sentences. It also deserves to come with electronic filing and virtual court hearings when possible. While defying some fair trial rights, such practices can make judicial systems more available and effective. As the virtual divide narrows, they can improve access to justice in remote areas, increasing legal representation and witness participation, eliminating arrears, and reducing pre-trial detention.
I hope that world leaders, by discussing joint actions to involve and defeat the pandemic, will want to avoid undermining the principles of the rule of law and basic freedoms.
This will exacerbate social tensions, grievances and underlying reasons for the crash, and shock prevention is perhaps more imperative than ever, as clients for large-scale investment in shock control and post-shock recovery are subject to limited resources. a position to help.
After a six-month blockade, the Namibian government ended travel restrictions and curfews on Friday, despite a fall in new cases of COVID-19, but Namibia’s economy, which relies heavily on wildlife tourism, has been hit by this period. and the long-term wildlife reserves of the country, also known as conservation areas, are far from safe.
For more than 40 years, Argentina has provided peacekeeping forces to various United Nations missions, forces deployed as a component of the Argentine Joint Peace Operations Training Centre (CAECOPAZ), where more than two hundred officials have recently taken on their duties in Cyprus: The COVID-19 operation presented new challenges: the adoption of new protection measures to restrict infections , as well as new everyday jobs to protect others at home before deploying abroad.
Samaneh Shabani, blind by birth, did not let his disability save him from completing his doctorate at tehran University and volunteering at the human rights NGO Tavana. helped UNIC organize events and percentage of reliable public information on fitness. She continues to advocate for the rights of others with disabilities.