Peacekeepers, HIV and the Role of Masculinity in Military Behaviour

Abstract

Both international peacekeeping missions and the HIV/AIDS pandemic have featured at large in global discourse since the end of the cold war. Nearly two decades later the security implications of the pandemic have been linked to peacekeeping missions, suggesting a need for epidemiological evidence and behavioural analysis to account for that link. This essay examines the role of masculinity in military culture and links this to peacekeepers' behaviour. It also addresses gender issues raised by linking HIV/AIDS to peacekeeping missions, and identifies policy obstacles and interventions that need to be addressed to halt the spread of HIV among peacekeepers and the populations they serve to protect.