On 24 June 2020, 170 UN Member States and Observers signed a non-binding statement in support of the Appeal, and on 1 July 2020, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding a general and immediate cessation of hostilities for at least 90 days and requesting that the UN Secretary-General accelerate the international response to the coronavirus pandemic.
United Nations Secretary-General António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres issued the 'Appeal for Global Ceasefire' in a verbal statement delivered on March 23, 2020.
[5] The Security Council... Requests the Secretary-General to help ensure that all relevant parts of the United Nations system, including UN Country Teams, in accordance with their respective mandates, accelerate their response to the COVID-19 pandemic with a particular emphasis on countries in need, including those in situations of armed conflict or affected by humanitarian crises...Following the March 23, 2020 issue of the Appeal, despite initial optimism and an increase in ceasefire announcements in nearly all regions globally, the UN Security Council (UNSC) was unable to come to a consensus in support of the concept, and wars continued.
[18] On July 1, 2020, Sherine Tadros, Head of Amnesty International’s UN Office in New York, noted that the global ceasefire demanded by the UN could allow states to focus on the vital work of defeating the coronavirus pandemic.
[22] A July 8, 2020 USIP analysis sees the potential for the UNSC resolution to encourage ceasefires at three levels: providing mediators with an urgent, yet realistic, impetus for conflict parties to temporarily cease offensive operations; creating a monitoring framework for recording the "worst abusers" of the resolution; and providing opportunities for urgently required humanitarian aid in worsening conflict zones.
[4] The United States also reportedly objected to a draft of the resolution which mentioned the World Health Organization,[32] and the difficulty in the UNSC achieving meaningful consensus on the global ceasefire can also be seen as part of the UN's wider lack of a unitary response to the coronavirus pandemic.