The ‘Call to Action: Now and the Future, COVID-19 and Gender Equality, Global Peace and Security’ paper addresses the deeply gendered impact of COVID-19. The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to over a million confirmed cases, and tens of hundreds of deaths worldwide so far. As we see global responses to COVID-19, GAPS’s position is that a rights-based approach and gender- conflict analysis must be at the centre of any global response and recovery. This must assess not only the virus’s disproportionate impact on people, communities and countries based on their intersecting identities, including gender, race, ethnicity, disability, class, age and social-economic status; but also takes into account how this pandemic is impacting conflict dynamics which are also gendered in themselves.
The Women, Peace and Security agenda provides an essential framework for analysing and responding to COVID-19. At this time of compounding global crisis the world needs to work together to implement the Women, Peace and Security agenda and related international standards and ensure that COVID-19 does not exacerbate the existing gender inequalities. This paper sets out the already immediate and long-term impacts of COVID-19 with recommendation to the international community, including the UK Government to implement as they respond to this global pandemic. 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of UNSCR and the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. What was due to be a global moment of celebration, is now when the world needs to work together to implement the Women, Peace and Security agenda and ensure that global responses to COVID-19 do not deepen gender inequalities. Instead, the global response to COVID-19 must be explicitly gendered and prioritise peace. Read GAPS’s position paper on COVID-19 and Women, Peace and Security in full here.