Lack of international cooperation costing lives

The usual squabbles between haves and have-nots that have long characterised the EU continue unabated. Countries around the world are focused on addressing the pandemic within their borders, paying little heed to that which happens without. These countries forget they are not islands. COVID-19 does not respect borders

By Kokulan Mahendiran

Rarely has coordinated global action been more vital; seldom has it been more wanting. A nearly universal dearth of leadership, especially from the very seats one has come to expect it, has left the entire globe faced with a pandemic much worse than it need have been.

Any pretence of a community ethos among state actors, whereby global welfare and security would be paramount to political interests and inter-state rivalries, has been cast aside in favour of a prevailing “every state for itself” attitude – leading way to increasingly Machiavellian policymaking. 

The trouble begins in China, where this novel coronavirus was born. Officials tried to wish away the infectious disease by hushing up its very existence. Unsurprisingly, Government attempts to suppress “rumours” about the virus and contain it without broader public discourse failed disastrously. The lack of transparency that began locally and extended to Beijing allowed the virus to proliferate undeterred, not only in its country of origin but across the world. 

While such behaviour from China, an authoritarian state hardly known for its transparency, might not be surprising, the lack of direction and apparent kowtowing of the World Health Organization (WHO) has come as a shock for many. 

The WHO overlooked China’s many lapses and showered it with praise for its response to the outbreak – all while ostracising Taiwan and overlooking its enviable achievements in containing the COVID-19 outbreak. While there are countless people within the WHO doing incredible work during this challenging time, its leadership has proven itself more concerned with politics than public healthcare. 

While senior echelons of the WHO seem afflicted by a somewhat obsequious rapport with China, the work of its more than 7000 employees across the world is no less vital. Withholding funding to such an essential body in the middle of a pandemic has been a disappointing albeit unsurprising response from a White House that has endeavoured to absolve itself of any responsibility for its handling of this crisis. 

Its general lack of regard, even disdain, for international institutions makes the decision even less remarkable. The irony of President Trump scolding the WHO for inconsistent messaging in an evolving situation, while heading an administration characterised by rampant disinformation, was nonetheless striking. 

With two of its permanent members fraught over passing blame for their own shortcomings elsewhere, it comes as no surprise the Security Council has been unable to take any meaningful action in confronting this pandemic. Even if that impasse had not been, the domestic approaches of its permanent members have been entirely divergent. 

France, a founding member of the European Union (EU), is continuing to enforce border controls with fellow member states, while the United Kingdom, in the process of leaving the EU, continues to have an open-door policy. Meanwhile, the recent spike in pneumonia cases in Russia betrays its adoption of a policy of wishing away the disease by withholding its real figures from the public domain. 

Across the EU, disagreement abounds on how best to respond to the crises. Conflicting domestic policies, which range from pursuing herd-immunity in Sweden to enforcing harsh lockdowns across Mediterranean states, are but one dimension; the financial response of the bloc is the more contentious. While the Netherlands, which singlehandedly led the charge against a massive bailout for the most afflicted nations, was ultimately pressured into giving up its resistance to a joint recovery fund, it is hardly alone in continuing to block the so-called “coronabonds” Italy and Spain demand. 

China’s refusal to be transparent with the international community, not to mention its own citizenry, was a clear catalyst for the global pandemic we now face. The WHO’s politicking has bungled its ability to conduct itself as a transparent and neutral body. The Trump administration has retreated from taking on a leadership position, both globally and nationally, allowing the virus to run rampant. The Security Council, in keeping with an all-to-familiar recent trend, is proving entirely ineffective.

The usual squabbles between haves and have-nots that have long characterised the EU continue unabated. Countries around the world are focused on addressing the pandemic within their borders, paying little heed to that which happens without. 

These countries forget they are not islands. COVID-19 does not respect borders. It has very tragically demonstrated its striking ability to swiftly spread across continents and oceans, leaving no country untouched. Without a coordinated effort, even the handful of domestic successes we have seen will have been for naught once borders reopen and new waves of the pandemic inevitably emerge.

There is no denying we have all been dealt a bad hand. It is incumbent on our leaders to make the very best of it. Countless lives are at stake – not only those we lose to the virus but those we stand to lose from the economic mishandling of this pandemic. 

Countries must come together. They must embrace existing global institutions. We do not have the luxury of time to seek out necessary reform or change – all of this must come later. Imperfect or otherwise, existing leaders and institutions are all we have. A concerted international effort is crucial to coming out of this as quickly and painlessly as possible.

(The writer is currently completing a Masters in Diplomatic Studies at Oxford University, having previously completed his BA (Politics & World Religions) at McGill University and graduate coursework at Harvard University. Mahendiran is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society, a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum, and a recipient of both the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers. He is now Head of OxfordAgainstCorona, a volunteer organization helping vulnerable people through the COVID-19 Pandemic.)