U.n. Peacekeeping in a Time of Pandemic: Reconciling Armed Conflict Management While Helping to Fight Covid-19

U.N. Peacekeeping in a Time of Pandemic:

Reconciling Armed Conf‌lict Management While

Helping to Fight COVID-19

Bruce C. Rashkow*

Following China’s report regarding the outbreak of the coronavirus in that

country at the end of December 2019, the World Health Organization declared a

Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) at the end of

January 2020.

1

On March 11, 2020, after the virus had spread to more than 100

countries, the WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic.

2

More than f‌ive million people worldwide are conf‌irmed to have contracted the

virus, with more than 300,000 deaths attributed to the virus (as of May 19, 2020).

Most of these cases and deaths are reported in the United States and Western

Europe, with the virus having only recently reached Africa, South America, and

other areas.

The United Nations has responded to the pandemic in a variety of ways. The

WHO issued general guidance for states, while President Trump, upon the recom-

mendation of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, set forth sepa-

rate guidance for the United States. The Governor of New York in mid-March

ordered strict sheltering in place and social distancing, then mandated wearing of

face masks in public. Similar directives were issued by Swiss authorities. The

result in New York, where the U.N. Headquarters is located, and Geneva, where

the European headquarters for the United Nations and most U.N. specialized

agencies, including WHO, are based, has been that all U.N. staff were told to

work from home. In New York, in- person meetings of the U.N. Security Council

and the General Assembly were can- celled and replaced by virtual electronic

meetings. All in-person U.N. conferences and general meetings in both New

York and Geneva were cancelled and replaced by some form of video conferenc-

ing where possible. Indeed, the United Nations has canceled the traditional an-

nual in-person statements by world leaders at the opening of the General

Assembly in September 2020, to be replaced by virtual or record- ed statements

from those leaders before a limited live audience in the General Assembly, gener-

ally consisting of only one person from each nation’s Permanent Mission.

The WHO has been working with global experts, governments, and partners to

understand the new virus, track its spread, and provide assistance to countries on

measures to protect health and prevent the further spread of the outbreak.

* Lecturer, Columbia Law School; formerly with the U.N. Off‌ice of Legal Affairs and the Off‌ice of

Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State. © 2020, Bruce C. Rashkow.

1. What Does the World Health Organization Do?, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS (June 1, 2020),

https://perma.cc/KT8N-EXQ3.

2. Id.

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