The Role of UN Peace Operations in Countering Health Insecurity after COVID‐19

Abstract

This Policy Insight suggests the UN must account for a diverse range of conflict drivers, including health insecurity, and that UN peace operations can play a role in countries of deployment to counter health crises. Insecurity is experienced in a variety of different ways in a complex world where threats are multifaceted. COVID‐19 is merely the latest health crisis which has impacted populations around the globe in both developed and developing countries. However, UN peace operations have not typically played a major role in addressing health insecurity nor have they undergone any major shifts in their focus to provide direct health‐related assistance during the COVID‐19 pandemic. With health insecurity likely to persist, there should not need to be a global pandemic for the UN Security Council to use peace operations to undertake further preventative work in this area.

Developing a conceptual framework for the health protection of United Nations peacekeepers against the COVID-19 pandemic from global health perspectives

“…(1) Cross-borders Global health problems have cross-border risk factors and require countries to take collective action to address them [ 28 ]. UN peacekeepers who travel across borders to complete peacekeeping missions face potential risks of contracting COVID-19 [ 39 ]. The impact of COVID-19 among UN peacekeepers is cross-border because the COVID-19 pandemic could impact peacekeepers’ completion of missions and threaten the health of contacts at home and abroad.…”