A draft resolution from the United Kingdom distributed to the UN Security Council calls on rich countries to give doses of Covid-19 vaccines to low-income countries, according to a copy of this text obtained by AFP on Friday .
The resolution, delivered Thursday by London to its 14 Council partners, "
stresses the need for solidarity, equity and efficiency, and calls on developed countries to give doses of vaccine to low and middle income countries and other states in need
”.
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This draft resolution was announced Wednesday during a session of the Security Council by the head of British diplomacy Dominic Raab.
He estimated that 160 million people around the world are living in conflict or having fled instability, and who are at risk of not having access to immunization.
The text "
calls for the strengthening of national and multilateral approaches and international cooperation (...) in order to facilitate equitable access to vaccines against Covid-19, including in situations of armed conflict
".
The project "
demands that all parties to armed conflicts immediately engage in a lasting, extended and sustained humanitarian pause, to enable, among other things, vaccination against Covid-19 in areas of armed conflict
".
He also asks the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, who on Wednesday denounced “
extremely unequal and unfair progress in immunization
” in the world, “
a complete (and regular) assessment of all the obstacles to the response to Covid-19, including vaccination programs, in countries in situations of armed conflict and complex humanitarian emergencies
”.
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Last year, it took more than three months for the Security Council, blocked by a Sino-U.S. Rivalry, to pass its first and only resolution to date on the pandemic, which already called for a ceasefire for better fight against the pandemic.
London hopes that its project will be adopted in the coming weeks.
Russia could be difficult to convince after judging Wednesday that the subject of vaccines was outside the competence of the Security Council.
