Even as countries are pledging co-ordinated action to fight COVID-19, the pandemic represents a risk to social order and could further inflame already intractable wars across the globe, says a stark assessment released this week by the International Crisis Group.
Leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies met in an extraordinary virtual session Thursday and vowed to work together to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most citizens of those countries, which include Canada, would be forgiven for not even noticing what was said as border closures and mass layoffs overwhelm their personal and professional lives.
But even as countries pledge co-ordinated action, the COVID-19 crisis represents a risk to social order and could further inflame already intractable wars across the globe, says a stark assessment released this week by the International Crisis Group (ICG).
Many of the countries, causes and crises to which Canada has devoted considerable foreign policy time and effort face the prospect of even more suffering, says the special report released by the non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in Brussels.
Western democracies that were already distracted will turn even further inward, the ICG predicts.
“The disease means that international leaders, focused as they are on dramatic domestic issues, have little or no time to devote to conflicts or peace processes,” says the report.
