The Global Impact of HIV/AIDS on Peace Support Operations

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Abstract
The spread of HIV/AIDS poses a looming threat to global security as it ravages military forces in the developing world and destabiliZes entire nations. Although the connection between disease and global security is indirect, it is nonetheless real. This article investigates the unique relationship between peacekeeping and HIV/AIDS. It shows how the spread of the disease among African militaries has affected states' stability and also their capability to perform regional peacekeeping. While peace operations are meant to protect the human being from a number of threats ranging from starvation to human rights violations, HIV targets the human being with the 'aim' of destroying them. On the one hand, peace support operations (PSOs) intend to provide state, regional and ultimately global security. On the other, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has destabilizing effects on all three levels. Ironically and unpredictably, these two elements that have paradoxical effects have recently combined to produce a new threat. As peacekeepers are among the most mobile populations in the world, they can easily become a vector for the spread of HIV either in the region where they are deployed and back home once the mission is completed.

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