In dire need of protection of life: The dynamics between health and security during the Covid19 pandemic in conflict-affected territories in Colombia

2019冠状病毒病大流行暴露了全球南方脆弱、冲突不断的国家人口的脆弱性，特别是农村地区，这些地区往往缺乏基本的卫生基础设施，国家在提供服务和安全方面普遍忽视。然而，我们几乎不了解这些地区的非国家行为体科普（甚至从中获利）Covid 19大流行影响的策略，无论是当地社区，土著和民族群体还是武装行为体。哥伦比亚就是一个很好的例子：2016年与最大的反叛组织FARC-EP达成的和平协议载有解决冲突根源的全面规定，最重要的是农村发展，以实现领土和平。然而，2019冠状病毒病大流行袭击了一个高度脆弱的国家，原因有二：首先，哥伦比亚革命武装力量-人民军的复员留下了一个权力真空，哥伦比亚政府无法填补，导致公共秩序进一步受到侵蚀，非国家武装团体分散。第二，哥伦比亚政府也尚未履行其在和平协定中关于农村发展的承诺，卫生基础设施和卫生系统（如获得水、卫生接入点）。因此，由于国家长期忽视，许多受冲突影响的社区在2019冠状病毒病大流行期间面临双重挑战，即保护他们的生命免受健康和安全风险的影响。因此，该研究项目将提出这样一个问题：我们如何解释农村地区不同的健康和安全保护动态，以及哪些战略已被证明是有效的，并有助于正在进行的和平进程？这些项目将分析COVID 19大流行对和平协议后领土秩序重新配置的影响，以及非国家行为者减缓冠状病毒传播的战略。从初步的观察中，我们可以发现各种各样的战略，从持不同政见的武装团体的严格限制措施到土著团体的传统社区保护和偏远地区的自我组织的保健网络。我们将通过应用混合方法获取原始数据，并通过对我们的结果进行建模，比较Covid 19大流行对全球南部其他国家的影响以及对哥伦比亚的长期影响。因此，我们的研究项目将大大有助于在Covid 19大流行期间农村地区健康和安全保护战略的学术和政治讨论，这是全球南方国家的一种普遍现象。为期一年的研究项目将纳入莱比锡大学（海森堡方案）、哈韦里亚纳和罗萨里奥正在进行的跨学科研究项目，并将受益于与CAPAZ研究网络（德国-哥伦比亚和平研究所）的现有研究合作。

The Covid19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of populations in the fragile, conflict-ridden countries in the Global South, specifically in rural areas that are often characterized by an absence of basic health infrastructure and widespread state neglect in service and security provision. However, we hardly have any knowledge about the strategies of non-state actors in these areas to cope with (or even profit from) the effects of the Covid19 pandemic, be it local communities, indigenous and ethnic groups or armed actors. Colombia is a case in point: The peace agreement with the biggest rebel group FARC-EP in 2016 enshrined comprehensive prescriptions to address root causes of the conflict, most importantly rural development in order to achieve territorial peace. Yet, the Covid19 pandemic hit a highly vulnerable country, for two reasons: Firstly, the demobilization of the FARC-EP left a power vacuum which the Colombian state was not able to fill resulting in further erosion of public order and a dispersion of non-state armed groups. Secondly, the Colombian state has also not yet delivered its promises in the peace agreement with regard to rural development e.g., in health infrastructure and health systems (such as access to water, health access points). Thus, due to long-term state neglect many conflict-affected communities during the Covid19 pandemic faced a double challenge for protecting their life from health and security risks. The research project will thus ask: How can we explain differing local dynamics of health and security protection in rural areas and which strategies have proven effective and conductive for the ongoing peace process? The projects will analyse the effects of the Covid19 pandemic on the reconfiguration of territorial order after the peace agreement and the strategies of non-state actors to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus. From a first initial observation we can find a broad variety of strategies, ranging from strict confinement measures by armed dissident groups to traditional community protection by indigenous groups and self-organized health networks in remote areas. We will acquire original data by applying a mixed-methods approach and compare the effects of the Covid19 pandemic with regard to other countries in the Global South and in a long-term perspective in Colombia by modelling our results. Our research project will thus considerably contribute to the academic and political discussion on strategies of health and security protection in rural areas during the Covid19 pandemic, a widespread phenomenon in countries of the Global South. The one-year research project will be embedded in ongoing interdisciplinary research projects at the University of Leipzig (Heisenberg programme), the Javeriana and Rosario and will profit from existing research collaboration with the CAPAZ research network (the German-Colombian Peace Institute).