ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic elicited a surge in the use of digital tools to replace "classic” manual disease tracking and contact tracing across individuals. The main technical reason is based on the disease surveillance needs imposed by the magnitude of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus since 2020, particularly how these needs overwhelmed governments around the world. Such developments led to stark variations across countries in terms of legal approaches towards the use of digital tools, including self-reporting software and mobile phone apps, for both disease tracking and contact tracing. Against this backdrop, in this article I highlight some of the normative challenges posed by the digitalization of disease surveillance, underscoring its almost non-existent regulation under international law. I look back at the historical emergence of the epidemiological principles underlying this procedure, by referring to John Snow's trailblazing work in cholera control. I emphasize how the COVID-19 pandemic prompted both technical and normative shifts related to the digitalization of these procedures. Furthermore, I refer to some of the overarching obstacles for deploying international law to tackle future tensions between the public health rationale for digitalized disease tracking and contact tracing, on the one hand, and normative concerns directly related to their legality, on the other hand. Lastly, I put forward conclusions in light of the current juncture of international health law reforms, and how they so far display limited potential to herald structural changes concerning the legality of the use of digital tools in disease surveillance.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 crisis has brought about significant challenges to international organizations operating in fragile contexts. Among others, the case of United Nations (UN) and its peacekeeping operations (PKOs) counting more than 80, 000 personnel from 121 countries is certainly prominent. Not only do PKOs rely on international personnel's frequent rotations, but they also rely on freedom of movement to carry out their mandate. How have PKOs adapted and responded to the crisis? How do PKOs balance the need to protect vulnerable civilians with support to governments' responses to the crisis and safeguard legitimacy? This chapter explores the impact of the health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic on PKOs by focusing on two key aspects. First, it evaluates the current PKO efforts in managing the crisis in light of two previous health emergencies occurring in the midst of PKOs, namely Ebola in Western Africa and cholera in Haiti. It will reflect on the legitimacy costs associated with the risk of UN personnel being seen as vector of the disease. Second, it identifies challenges and opportunities created by the emergency. The key challenges stem from the inevitable delay or interruption of ongoing negotiation processes, and the associated risks of armed groups taking advantage of the uncertain situation. But there are some opportunities to consider. Operational adaptation becomes a need as missions have to prioritize civilians' protection without violating governments' policies on movement. Furthermore, halting frequent personnel rotations has likely increased cohesion within missions among soldiers but also between soldiers and missions' leaders. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.