In the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterre, has called for an immediate global ceasefire, arguing:

Our world faces a common enemy: COVID-19. The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or faith. It attacks all, relentlessly.

Meanwhile, armed conflict rages on around the world.

The most vulnerable — women and children, people with disabilities, the marginalized and the displaced — pay the highest price. They are also at the highest risk of suffering devastating losses from COVID-19.

As a rights-based organisation, Open Briefing wholeheartedly supports this call. We are one of nearly 200 civil society organisations around the world that have signed joint letters of support to Mr Guterre and the UN Security Council and our CEO has signed Avaaz’s global petition along with nearly 2 million other citizens.

Every person on the planet is threatened by COVID-19, but it is the most vulnerable that will pay the highest price. That is why we have joined the #GlobalCeasefire campaign to give everyone the chance to focus on overcoming the virus.

In the words of the UN secretary general: End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world.