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Abstract
The UN Security Council meeting on 18 September 2014 represented a major turning-point in the international response to the Ebola outbreak then underway in West Africa. However, in the light of widespread criticism over the tardiness of the international response, it can be argued that the UN, and particularly the Security Council, failed to make best use of a potential resource it already had on the ground in Liberia: the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). This article examines whether UNMIL could have done more to contribute to the emergency response and attempts to draw some lessons from this experience for potential peacekeeper involvement in future public health emergencies. UNMIL could have done more than it did within the terms of its mandate, although it may well have been hampered by factors such as its own capacities, the views of Troop Contributing Countries and the approach taken by the Liberian government. This case can inform broader discussions over the provision of medical and other forms of humanitarian assistance by peacekeeping missions, such as the danger of politicising humanitarian aid and peacekeepers doing more harm than good. Finally, we warn that a reliance on peacekeepers to deliver health services during ‘normal’ times could foster a dangerous culture of dependency, hampering emergency responses if the need arises.
Acknowledgement
We are grateful to Vanessa Newby for her invaluable research assistance in the preparation of this article. Dr Sara Davies is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT130101040).
Notes on Contributors
Sara E. Davies is Associate Professor in the Centre for Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, Monash University and an ARC Future Fellow with a project on Global Health Diplomacy. She has written two single authored books, and has a new book out (co-authored with Adam Kamradt-Scott and Simon Rushton), Disease Diplomacy (2015). She is the co-founder and co-editor of the quarterly journal, Global Responsibility to Protect.
Simon Rushton is a Faculty Research Fellow in the Department of Politics at the University of Sheffield. He has written widely on international responses to HIV/AIDS and other diseases; the links between health and security; the changing nature of global health governance; and issues surrounding health, conflict and post-conflict reconstruction. He edits the quarterly journal Medicine, Conflict & Survival (with Maria Kett) and is an Associate Fellow of the Centre on Global Health Security at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House.
Notes
1. WHO, “Ebola Virus Disease in Guinea.”
2. MSF, “Ebola Epidemic Declared.”
3. Enserik. “WHO declares Ebola Emergency.”
4. UN Security Council, S/RES/ 2177, 1.
5. UN Security Council, S/RES/ 2177, 3.
6. UN General Assembly, A/RES/69/1. UNMEER was based in Ghana and initially led by Assistant Secretary General for Field Support, Anthony Banbury. Banbury had already been appointed ‘Ebola Crisis Manager’ by the Secretary General on September 8. UN General Assembly and Security Council, A/69/389-S/2014/679.
7. UN Security Council, S/RES/2066.
8. UN Secretary General, Twenty-eighth Progress Report’. S/2014/598 .
9. Sengupta, “Effort on Ebola.” Chan’s office, according to Sengupta, claimed that it had no record of receiving the cables.
10. WHO, “Ebola Response Roadmap.”
11. Snyder, “What Role for Peacekeepers?”
12. WHO, “Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever.”
13. For further discussion of these issues see Davies & Rushton, Healing or Harming?
14. WHO, “Liberia.”
15. WHO AFRO, “Ebola Virus Disease.”
16. WHO, “Ebola Situation Report – 6 May.”
17. WHO, “Ebola Transmission in Liberia Over.”
18. UN Security Council, S/RES/2066.
19. UN Secretary General, “Twenty-eighth Progress Report,” 14.
20. Quoted in Lynch, “Ban says UN Troops are Safe.”
21. Menkor, “Ebola Fear closes UNMIL.”
22. Snyder, “What Role for UN Peacekeepers?”
23. “Citing Ebola Outbreak’s Profound Toll.”
24. Wesee, “Liberia.”
25. “Citing Ebola Outbreak’s Profound Toll.”
26. Landgren, “Combatting Ebola”.
27. “Liberia.”
28. UN Security Council, “Twenty-eighth Progress Report,” 5, 11.
29. UN Security Council, “7260th Meeting.”
30. UN Security Council, S/RES/1509.
31. UN Security Council, S/RES/2116.
32. UN Security Council, S/RES/2176.
33. UN Security Council, S/RES/2190.
34. UN DPKO, Principles and Guidelines.
35. Ibid., Figure 2, 23–24.
36. UN DPKO, United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, 30.
37. UN DPKO, Civil–Military Coordination. Indeed, QIPs were rolled out to support country health teams when government funds were inexplicably held up in reaching the province. See UN Security Council, “7260th Meeting,” 5.
38. UN DPKO, Principles and Guidelines, 30.
39. UN DPKO, Civil–Military Coordination.
40. OCHA, Humanitarian Civil–Military Coordination.
41. OCHA, “Civil–Military Guidelines,” xi.
42. UN Peacekeeping Operations, Handbook on Multidimensional Peacekeeping, 175 .
43. “Ebola.”
44. UN DPKO, Medical Support Manual, para.1.01.
45. UN Secretary General, S/2014.598, 6, 15.
46. UNMIL, “Medical Outreach in Gurmoshor.”
47. UNMIL, “Banengr-12 Deworming Exercise.”
48. UNMIL, “Meet the Doctor.”
49. UNMIL, “PakEng-13 helps Blind.”
50. UNMIL, “PakEngr-14 in Medical Outreach.”
51. UNMIL, Facebook page, July 19, 2012.
52. UNMIL, Facebook page, July 25, 2012.
53. UNMIL, Facebook page, December 17, 2012.
54. UNMIL, Facebook page, June 6, 2013.
55. UNMIL, Facebook page, October 9, 2013.
56. UNMIL, Facebook page, December 26, 2013.
57. UN OIOS, “Audit of the Provision.”
58. For further discussion of this issue, see Davies & Rushton, Healing or Harming?
59. UN Security Council “Twenty-eighth Progress Report,” 10; and UN Security Council, “Letter dated 28 August 2014,” 2.
60. WHO, “Liberia.”
61. Karin Landgren, quoted in “Combating Ebola in Liberia,” 2–3.
62. Onishi. “Clashes Erupt.”
63. In a letter to the Security Council on August 28, 2014, Secretary-General Ban reported: ‘Though it has not, and will not, enforce the Government-imposed isolation of affected areas, UNMIL will continue to facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance, including by helping to provide the necessary security conditions, in accordance with Security Council resolution 1509 (2003)’. UN Security Council, “Letter dated 28 August 2014,” 2.
64. Hughes et al., “The Struggle versus the Song,” 823.
65. Downie, The Road to Recovery; and Petit et al., “Implementing a Basic Package.”
66. WHO, “Life Expectancy by Country.”
67. “Physicians per 1000 People.”
68. UN DPKO, United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, 30.
69. Sommaruga, “Humanitarian Action.”
70. WHO, “Civil–Military Coordination,” 11–12.
71. UN Security Council, “Twenty-eighth Progress Report,” 8. See also Leonardsson and Rudd, “The ‘Local Turn’.”
72. For a full discussion of this case see Davies & Rushton, Healing or Harming?