Tunisia has proposed a UN Security Council resolution that would call the coronavirus pandemic “a threat to humanity and to international peace and security” and call for an immediate global humanitarian cease-fire to respond to “the unprecedented threat posed by COVID-19 reported BNA.
The UN’s most powerful body has not addressed the pandemic sweeping the globe, but Dominican Republic Ambassador Jose Singer, the current council president, said Wednesday he expects members to meet on COVID-10 “for sure next week, or before.”
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to brief the council at the request of Germany’s UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, diplomats said, according to The Associated Press (AP).
The UN General Assembly is expected to decide by Thursday evening whether to adopt either, both, or neither of two rival resolutions on COVID-19. One resolution, which has more than 135 co-sponsors, supports the World Health Organization and calls for “intensified international cooperation” to defeat the pandemic.
The other, sponsored by Russia with support from four countries, also recognize WHO’s leading role, but it says unilateral sanctions must not be applied without UN Security Council approval.
