Abstract
Revised: Nov 6 2021The shortfalls of multilateral and regional organizations in respect of handling the COVID-19 pandemic have been well rehearsed by scholars and policy makers in multiple publications and statements. While the World Health Organization (WHO) and its regional offices have coordinated global responses, regional organizations, like the European Union, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or African Union, have played complementary roles. However, the response of different regions has varied, revealing multiple deficits in the structures of regional governance. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a region affected by chronic ongoing conflicts and serious inequalities in health and welfare provision, reflected in the absence of concerted responses to the pandemic. Its young population has meant lower comparative mortality rates, but the socio-economic spill-over effects are grave in terms of interrupted education, high unemployment, particularly in respect to vulnerable communities like refugees and migrant workers. With the current situation remaining critical, this paper reviews the impact of COVID-19 on MENA and considers the variable performance of states and institutions to the pandemic, highlighting the shortfalls, but also opportunities for collective action. Drawing on data from the WHO, United Nations (UN), regional organizations, media and secondary sources, it first discusses the wider global-regional context; second, reviews the actions of regional bodies, like the League of Arab States, Gulf Cooperation Council and the cross-regional Organization of Islamic Cooperation; and third, looks at some country-specific situations where both evidence of good practice and the absence of appropriate regional level provision have exposed deep regional divides. It concludes with a call for more collaboration between states and international organizations: better regional coordination is urgently needed to supplement existing multilateral efforts. A collective local response to the COVID-19 pandemic could help transcend regional divides and spur much-needed security cooperation in other areas.
Highlights
Regional-global context While multilateral organizations like the UN and WHO, alongside states, are seen as the primary security providers in international politics, the role of regional organizations in complementing such efforts is longstanding
Drawing on data from the WHO, the UN, regional organizations, research institutes, media outlets, and secondary sources, it first discusses the Middle East situation within the wider global-regional context; second, reviews the actions of regional bodies, like the League of Arab States, Gulf Cooperation Council or the OIC; and third, looks at some country specific situations where both evidence of good practice and the absence of appropriate regional level provision have exposed deep divides. It concludes with a call for better coordination among both regional and international actors, including a ‘pan-regional’ effort at cooperation, recalling the initially successful, and wide-ranging multilateral conferences which followed the 1991 Madrid Conference to initiate a Middle East peace process (or the Conference of Security and Cooperation in Europe following Helsinki Accords in 1975 which contributed to the ending of Cold War tensions)
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the centrality of public health to global security, broadly conceived
Summary
Fawcett Globalization and Health (2021) 17:133 significant underreporting, whether based on lack of testing, government opacity or incomplete data collection is likely; the overall vaccination rate was less than 6.0% [3]. Drawing on data from the WHO, the UN, regional organizations, research institutes, media outlets, and secondary sources, it first discusses the Middle East situation within the wider global-regional context; second, reviews the actions of regional bodies, like the League of Arab States, Gulf Cooperation Council or the OIC; and third, looks at some country specific situations where both evidence of good practice and the absence of appropriate regional level provision have exposed deep divides It concludes with a call for better coordination among both regional and international actors, including a ‘pan-regional’ effort at cooperation, recalling the initially successful, and wide-ranging multilateral conferences which followed the 1991 Madrid Conference to initiate a Middle East peace process (or the Conference (later Organization) of Security and Cooperation in Europe following Helsinki Accords in 1975 which contributed to the ending of Cold War tensions). A collective local response to the COVID-19 pandemic could help to transcend regional divides and thereby spur much-needed security cooperation in other areas, to kick start a new, ‘Middle East security architecture’ [14] – one that would embrace a wide basket of issues from conflict reduction and climate change to all aspects of ‘human security’ including health [15]
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