Following discussions at IASC Principals meeting on 9 April 2020, UNICEF and OCHA have produced some communication content to support our collective advocacy efforts for safe and fast-tracked access for health and aid workers and supplies at borders and in countries.
The UN’s Humanitarian Chief, Mark Lowcock, has called for swift and determined action to avoid the most destabilizing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as he releases a $6.7 billion appeal and an updated global plan to fight coronavirus in fragile countries.
Major IASC organizations have issued a graphic warning of the risk of coronavirus to the world’s most vulnerable countries after disclosing that international donors had pledged around a quarter of the $2 billion the UN requested in the Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19 in March.
Following is the text of the open letter:
Dear donor community,
This document outlines the ‘light’ and ‘adapted’ scale-up protocols to be activated for IASC response to the COVID-19 emergency. It describes the collective approach and principles of action to guide the system-wide response. This activation may be updated to ensure it retains currency in view of the exceptional and rapidly evolving situation.
5 Apr 2020
Watch the video here
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing untold human suffering and economic devastation around the world.
I recently called for an immediate global ceasefire to focus on our shared struggle to overcome the pandemic.
I appealed for an end to violence everywhere, now.
But violence is not confined to the battlefield.
António Guterres (UN Secretary-General) video message on COVID-19 and misinformation
As the world fights the deadly COVID-19 pandemic – the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War – we are also seeing another epidemic -- a dangerous epidemic of misinformation.
Around the world, people are scared. They want to know what to do and where to turn for advice. This is a time for science and solidarity.
Yet the global ‘misinfo-demic’ is spreading.
Harmful health advice and snake-oil solutions are proliferating.
A new storybook that aims to help children understand and come to terms with COVID-19 has been produced by a collaboration of more than 50 organizations working in the humanitarian sector, including the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Save the Children.
On 8 April 2020 the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, released the following statement on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19):
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most dangerous challenges this world has faced in our lifetime. It is above all a human crisis with severe health and socio-economic consequences.
This document reflects recommendations made by IASC Results Group 5 on Humanitarian Financing (co-chaired by OCHA and ICVA), with inputs from the IASC Emergency Directors Group (EDG), for collective messages to donors on how they can better support the pandemic response and ongoing humanitarian operations, especially in terms of flexible funding. These key messages reflect IASC commitments and are aligned with Grand Bargain principles aimed at putting assistance into the hands of people in need and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian action.
