While the world is looking for answers to the challenges of the pandemic COVID-19, the most vulnerable regions are left without any assistance. The health care system before the pandemic was weak where war, armed conflict and where the state does not control a large part of its territory.Such regions can become centres of new outbreaks of the epidemic. Many armed conflicts has become a grey zone in which the already overloaded Ministry of health are powerless, and their employees are often perceived as representatives of the enemy side.In regions with disputed jurisdiction often cannot reach the assistance of international organizations.During a pandemic, when you want a rigorous, systematic approach to health, such grey zones are delayed-action mines for distribution COVID-19.The organization “Geneva call” (Geneva Call) for 20 years interacting with armed non-state actors around the world. In the framework of its mission to encourage those groups to respect humanitarian norms in conditions of war and conflict, the organization has managed to operate in the most remote regions. Many non-state armed structures listen to the “Geneva call”, but unfortunately, often these efforts are insufficient.From the beginning of the pandemic, the organization calls on armed groups to fully assess its scale and the danger to them and under their control population. At the same time we have strengthened a number of our activities against COVID-19.”The Geneva call” has convinced many non-state armed structures in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Myanmar, Yemen, Mali, to take sanitary-and-epidemiologic measures to prevent spread of the disease.In other places, on the contrary, the organization was able to stop attempts by armed forces to impose unnecessarily harsh measures to prevent the spread of the disease, which could be disastrous for the already vulnerable civilian population. States must understand that without medical help the global fight against COVID-19 in these remote areas may be lost. It is therefore vital that humanitarian organizations have had the opportunity to work in regions controlled by non-state actors without fear of prosecution for violating a tough anti-terrorism legislation.Equipment and supplies needed for containment of the virus should be available to every person in every corner of the nation-States, including the most problematic regions.The most well-organized groups quickly realized the scale of the problem and has committed itself to curb the pandemic. The otherx not sufficient funds, but they trust our colleagues and follow their advice. So, three armed groups in Iraq — Shiite “Hezbollah Harakat An-Nujaba”, the Yezidi “Force protection Sidhana” and the coalition “the forces of popular mobilization” (“Hashd al-SHAABI”) — in April signed developed by the “Geneva call” the Declaration on the protection of health during coronavirus crisis. Thus, they have committed themselves to guarantee the population’s access to medical care, to take measures to prevent the spread of the disease and not to attack medical personnel and medical objects.Finally, there is a small part of the armed structures that we look at the pandemic through the prism of their ideology.In such cases, it takes a little ingenuity to get around the implacable command and directly to remind the soldiers at the front of existing humanitarian standards and commitments.This can be done with the help of such modern tools as electronic games, phone apps, short promo videos and social network, which the men use with great enthusiasm.Just one example: hundreds of thousands of people in Eastern Ukraine already watched short videos on access to medical care.The consequences of a pandemic COVID-19, to reach refugee camps in areas of armed conflict around the world, probably exceeded even the most pessimistic forecasts.In this situation, the interaction with structures that have at least some control over the conflict zones and problem areas — no matter which party they may represent, it remains our moral duty.
