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Managing HIV/AIDS in Peace Support Operations in Africa

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The Palgrave Handbook of Peacebuilding in Africa

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Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the problem of HIV/AIDS, and efforts to manage it, in peace support operations in Africa, with a focus on the national militaries of some key African troop-contributing countries. It looks at various initiatives for, and challenges in, managing the spread of HIV/AIDS at the national, regional, and continental levels in the context of peacekeeping in Africa. The chapter calls attention to military personnel as a high-risk group for HIV infection, highlighting the role of peacekeepers as a vector for the spread of the disease to and from local populations, and to their families and communities upon return from duty, but also their potential as agents of change in preventing its spread. It concludes with several concrete recommendations for stakeholders at different levels to guide more effective management of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in national militaries and peace support operations in Africa.

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Notes

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    Bazergan, HIV/AIDS, p. 5. See Chris Beyrer, War in the Blood: Sex, Politics, and AIDS in Southeast Asia (London and New York: Zed, 1998), pp. 64–65.

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    Helfrich, “HIV Prevalence in the SANDF”.

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    UNAIDS, Report of the UNAIDS Expert Panel on HIV Testing in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, Bangkok, Thailand, 28–30 November 2001, p. 14.

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    Heinecken, “The Potential Impact of HIV/AIDS”, p. 70.

  32. 32.

    Alex de Waal , “AIDS and Peacekeepers: Reason for Good Policy, Not Fear”, African Arguments, 9 August 2009, http://africanarguments.org/2009/08/09/aids-and-peacekeepers-reason-for-good-policy-not-fear (accessed 20 December 2016).

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    Alex de Waal , Jennifer F. Klot, and Manjari Mahajan, with Dana Huber, Georg Frerks, and Souleymane M’Boup, “HIV/AIDS, Security, and Conflict: New Realities, New Responses” (New York: AIDS, Security, and Conflict Initiative, 2010), p. 12.

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  35. 35.

    UN Security Council Resolution 1542, UN Doc. S/RES/1542, 30 April 2004; UN Security Council Resolution 1545, UN Doc. S/RES/1545, 21 May 2004. The language in Resolution 1545 differs slightly: “Welcoming with satisfaction and encouraging the efforts of the United Nations Organization to enhance the awareness of peacekeeping personnel on the need to prevent and combat HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases.”

  36. 36.

    Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Other Related Infectious Diseases, Abuja, Nigeria, 27 April 2001, para. 26.

  37. 37.

    SADC HIV and AIDS Strategic Framework 2010–2015, October 2009.

  38. 38.

    Ayodele Akenroye, “The ECOWAS Regional Framework on HIV/AIDS and the Military in West Africa”, in Obijiofor Aginam and Martin R. Rupiya (eds.), HIV/AIDS and the Security Sector in Africa (Tokyo and New York: United Nations University Press, 2012), p. 46.

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  42. 42.

    The card is in different languages—Arabic, Bahasa, Bengali, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Kiswahili, Nepalese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.

  43. 43.

    UN, “Security Council Unanimously Adopting 1983 (2011): Security Council Encourages Inclusion of HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care, Support in Implementing Peacekeeping Mandates”, press release, UN Doc. SC/10272, 7 June 2011.

  44. 44.

    Roxanne Bazergan, “HIV/AIDS: Policies and Programmes for Blue Helmets”, Paper no. 96 (Pretoria: ISS, 2000).

  45. 45.

    UNAIDS, “Fighting Aids: HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Among Armed Forces and UN Peacekeepers” (Geneva, 2003); Voice of America (VOA), “UN Security Council Notes Peacekeepers Role in Combating HIV/AIDS”, VOA News, 6 June 2011, http://www.voanews.com/content/un-security-council-notes-peacekeepers-role-in-combating-hivaids-123390593/158259.html (accessed 20 December 2016).

  46. 46.

    Joseph U. Becker, Christian Theodosis, and Rick Kulkarni, “HIV/AIDS, Conflict, and Security in Africa: Rethinking Relationships”, Journal of the International AIDS Society 11 (2008), pp. 1–7.

  47. 47.

    Harley Feldbaum, Kelley Lee, and Preeti Patel, “The National Security Implications of HIV/AIDS”, PLOS Medicine 3, no. 6 (June 2006), p. 775. See also Aginam and Rupiya, HIV/AIDS and the Security Sector in Africa.

  48. 48.

    Nancy B. Mock et al., “Conflict and HIV: A Framework for Risk Assessment to Prevent HIV in Conflict-Affected Settings in Africa”, Emerging Themes in Epidemiology 1, no. 6 (2004), https://ete-online.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-7622-1-6 (accessed 18 June 2017).

  49. 49.

    “Peacekeepers or Sexual Abusers?”, Carte Blanche documentary, broadcast 11 August 2013.

  50. 50.

    Alexandra R. Harrington, “Victims of Peace: Current Abuse Allegations Against U.N. Peacekeepers and the Role of Law in Preventing Them in the Future”, ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law 12 (2005), p. 126.

  51. 51.

    Harrington, “Victims of Peace”.

  52. 52.

    Gwinyayi Albert Dzinesa, “Culture and HIV/AIDS in African Peacekeeping Operations”, in Aginam and Rupiya, HIV/AIDS and the Security Sector in Africa, p. 101.

  53. 53.

    UN Security Council Resolution 1325, UN Doc. S/RES/1325, 31 October 2000. The resolution calls for more involvement of women in conflict resolution and greater consideration of gender issues in peace processes.

  54. 54.

    UN Security Council Resolution 1325.

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    Yolande Bouka and Romi Sigsworth, “Women in the Military in Africa: Kenya Case Study”, ISS East Africa Report no. 7 (September 2016), p. 5.

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    Sharon Lukunka, “Women Advocate for Peace in Darfur”, AU-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), 10 February 2015, https://unamid.unmissions.org/women-advocate-peace-darfur (accessed 9 June 2017).

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    Alex de Waal, “HIV/AIDS and the Challenges of Security and Conflict”, The Lancet 375, no. 9708 (2 January 2010), pp. 22–23.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Conflict Resolution, Cape Town, South Africa

    Paul Mulindwa

  2. Southern African Development and Reconstruction Agency, Cape Town, South Africa

    Oscar Siwali

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  1. Paul Mulindwa
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  2. Oscar Siwali
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. N’Zarama Centre for Peacebuilding, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

    Tony Karbo

  2. Centre for Conflict Resolution, Cape Town, South Africa

    Kudrat Virk

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Mulindwa, P., Siwali, O. (2018). Managing HIV/AIDS in Peace Support Operations in Africa. In: Karbo, T., Virk, K. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Peacebuilding in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62202-6_14

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