For weeks, the UN Security Council was "deafeningly silent" on the corona pandemic. At the first session of the most powerful UN body, Secretary General Guterres now warns of serious consequences for international security.
New York (dpa) - UN chief António Guterres sees a growing risk of attacks by bio-terrorists in the future, which could aim to trigger new pandemics like the current one.
"The weaknesses and inadequate preparation exposed by this pandemic provide insight into what a bioterrorist attack could look like - and may increase the risk," Guterres said at a UN Security Council virtual meeting in New Thursday on Thursday (local time) York. "Non-governmental groups could gain access to virulent tribes that could cause similar devastation to societies around the world."
Concern for bio-terrorists is one of eight threats to international stability that the Secretary-General listed before the most powerful UN body because of the corona crisis. This included the general risk that terrorist groups could take advantage of the time of the crisis while governments were distracted by the pandemic. In addition, according to Guterres, the United Nations recorded human rights violations in connection with Covid-19: "We see stigmatization, hate speech, right-wing extremists and other radicals trying to take advantage of the situation."
It was the first time that the UN Security Council met because of the corona crisis. Criticism was recently raised about the apparent standstill in the most powerful UN body. It was therefore all the more important to agree on a joint statement after the closed session: The members of the Security Council expressed their support for Guterres' efforts in the face of the pandemic and recalled "unity and solidarity with all concerned".
"There was a strong call for unity in these very exceptional circumstances," Belgian ambassador Marc Pecsteen later reported. The main issue was Guterres' call for a global ceasefire. Diplomats said that contrary to initial fears, the crisis did not politicize at the meeting. All New York diplomatic efforts are currently suffering from tensions over China's fear of being blamed. US President Donald Trump had repeatedly spoken of a "Chinese virus" and thus angered Beijing.
A meeting of the 15-member Security Council on the corona virus threat was delayed for weeks because the permanent members of the United States, China, Russia, Great Britain and France had planned their own - now failed - summit of their heads of state and government. This should be preferred to a large group meeting in the Council that most elected members - including Germany - called for. Germany's UN ambassador Christoph Heusgen clearly criticized the Council's "deafening silence". In contrast to the 2008 financial crisis, "leadership and power" have so far not come together internationally.
The UN Security Council is also working on two competing resolutions on Covid-19. A text under the leadership of France is only negotiated among the five veto powers. In response, the remaining ten members began working on their own resolution. Belgium's Ambassador Pecsteen said the two sides could move closer together on the issue next week.
