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Responding to Health Emergencies: The Ethical and Legal Considerations for Militaries

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Infectious Diseases in the New Millennium

Part of the book series: International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine ((LIME,volume 82))

Abstract

The twenty-first century has already witnessed a number of public health emergencies of international concern. Current indications suggest this trend is set to continue. Traditionally, health crises have resulted in a different set of actors responding to the event than if it is declared a humanitarian disaster, and vice versa. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa blurred these boundaries though, as the event proved to be both a public health crisis as well as a humanitarian disaster. In an unprecedented move, during the outbreak over 5000 foreign military personnel were deployed to assist civilian authorities contain the spread of the virus, build treatment facilities, train health workers, and provide medical care, while domestic military forces were engaged to enforce quarantine, provide protection, and in some instances, assist with burials. The involvement of military personnel in a health emergency has generated concern amongst some communities though that it is yet further evidence of the “militarisation” of humanitarian assistance, while some militaries have since indicated they would be prepared to assist in future health emergencies. This chapter examines the ethical and legal issues arising from the involvement of military personnel in health emergencies. Drawing on work undertaken on civil-military cooperation in humanitarian disaster contexts, the chapter considers the extent to which health crises are qualitatively different from other disasters and what this may mean for the involvement of military personnel and other actors. It explores questions around the types of activities military personnel can be expected to perform and whether these differ between foreign or domestic militaries, how militaries conduct themselves during health emergencies, as well as the limits of military assistance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Kamradt-Scott et al. (2015), Sesay (2015).

  2. 2.

    Burkle (2013).

  3. 3.

    Frangonikolopoulos (2005).

  4. 4.

    Barberis (2003).

  5. 5.

    Tong (2004).

  6. 6.

    Bailey et al. (2016), Trump (2002).

  7. 7.

    Bricknell and Gadd (2007), Lischer (2007).

  8. 8.

    Frangonikolopoulos (2005).

  9. 9.

    Katz and Wright (2004).

  10. 10.

    Interview with senior US military official, 15 November 2013, Washington, D.C., United States.

  11. 11.

    Bernard (2013).

  12. 12.

    Gordon (2010, 2014).

  13. 13.

    Anderson and Nevin (2016).

  14. 14.

    Tatham and Rietjens (2016).

  15. 15.

    Licina (2012).

  16. 16.

    Lum and Margesson (2014), Madiwale and Virk (2011).

  17. 17.

    Byleveld et al. (2005).

  18. 18.

    Liu et al. (2014), p. 33.

  19. 19.

    Wilson (2009), Winslow (2002).

  20. 20.

    Heaslip and Barber (2014).

  21. 21.

    Kamradt-Scott et al. (2015).

  22. 22.

    Gronke and Feaver (2001).

  23. 23.

    Narli (2000).

  24. 24.

    Sarigil (2009).

  25. 25.

    Lugo and Searing (2014).

  26. 26.

    Ungar (2013).

  27. 27.

    Venables and Pellecchia (2017).

  28. 28.

    Ansorge and Barkawi (2016), Gabriel (1944).

  29. 29.

    Cornyn (2008).

  30. 30.

    Martins (1995), Meron (1996).

  31. 31.

    Adams and Murray (2014).

  32. 32.

    Margesson (2013).

  33. 33.

    Margesson (2013), p. 3.

  34. 34.

    IASC (2011a).

  35. 35.

    IASC (2011a).

  36. 36.

    IASC (2011b).

  37. 37.

    Cassese (2005).

  38. 38.

    Kamradt-Scott et al. (2015).

  39. 39.

    Davies and Rushton (2016).

  40. 40.

    Madiwale and Virk (2011), p. 1088.

  41. 41.

    UN (2007).

  42. 42.

    UN (2006).

  43. 43.

    UN (2007), p. 9.

  44. 44.

    UN (2006).

  45. 45.

    UN (2007).

  46. 46.

    UN (2007), p. 30.

  47. 47.

    Cassese (1998), Smith (2002).

  48. 48.

    Crack (2016).

  49. 49.

    Boon (2016).

  50. 50.

    Kamradt-Scott et al. (2015).

  51. 51.

    Bricknell et al. (2015), Robson et al. (2017).

  52. 52.

    Robson et al. (2017).

  53. 53.

    Lu et al. (2016), Marion et al. (2016).

  54. 54.

    Kamradt-Scott et al. (2015), Robson et al. (2017).

  55. 55.

    Kamradt-Scott et al. (2015).

  56. 56.

    Geale (2012).

  57. 57.

    Chretien (2011).

  58. 58.

    Anderson and Nevin (2016).

  59. 59.

    Benatar and Upshur (2008), London et al. (2006), Olsthoorn and Bollen (2013).

  60. 60.

    Sidel and Levy (2003).

  61. 61.

    Anderson and Nevin (2016).

  62. 62.

    JCOA (2016).

  63. 63.

    McInnes and Rushton (2014).

  64. 64.

    Kamradt-Scott et al. (2015).

  65. 65.

    OCHA (2012).

  66. 66.

    Kinlaw et al. (2009).

  67. 67.

    Karadag and Hakan (2012), p. 606.

  68. 68.

    Interview with retired US military officer, 8 November 2013, Atlanta, United States.

  69. 69.

    Miller (1999).

  70. 70.

    Interview with Red Cross worker #1, 26 March 2015, Monrovia, Liberia.

  71. 71.

    Interview with Red Cross worker #2, 26 March 2015, Monrovia, Liberia.

  72. 72.

    Barnett (2011).

  73. 73.

    IARAN 2017, Krause (2014).

  74. 74.

    Krause (2014), p. 48.

  75. 75.

    Winslow (2002).

  76. 76.

    OCHA (2012), p. 1.

  77. 77.

    Barnett (2016), p. 13.

  78. 78.

    Bricknell et al. (2015), p. 172.

  79. 79.

    Diehl et al. (2016).

  80. 80.

    Anderson and Nevin (2016).

  81. 81.

    Calcagno (2016).

  82. 82.

    Davies and Rushton (2016).

  83. 83.

    Fauci (2014), p. 1086.

  84. 84.

    Sayburn (2014).

  85. 85.

    Butler (2014), Fauci (2014).

  86. 86.

    UN (2015).

  87. 87.

    Schmidt (2013).

  88. 88.

    Lane et al. (2016), Rid and Emanuel (2014).

  89. 89.

    Asgary and Junck (2013), pp. 626–627.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for International Security Studies, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Adam Kamradt-Scott

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Correspondence to Adam Kamradt-Scott .

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  1. School of Law, University of Keele, Keele, UK

    Mark Eccleston-Turner

  2. School of law, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Iain Brassington

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Kamradt-Scott, A. (2020). Responding to Health Emergencies: The Ethical and Legal Considerations for Militaries. In: Eccleston-Turner, M., Brassington, I. (eds) Infectious Diseases in the New Millennium. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 82. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39819-4_3

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