UN News Centre, March 11, 2016 (see extensive background below on the history of UN peacekeeper sexual crimes)
The United Nations Security Council today endorsed special measures recommended by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to prevent and combat sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers.
Through a resolution adopted by a vote of 14 in favour, with one abstention (Egypt), the Council specifically endorsed the decision of the Secretary-General “to repatriate a particular military unit or formed police unit of a contingent when there is credible evidence of widespread or systemic sexual exploitation and abuse by that unit.”
This decision was one of several recommendations in a report [published on Feb 16, 2016, weblink below] presented yesterday by the UN chief to the 15-member body that, for the first time, listed the names of the countries of alleged perpetrators. It also showed an increase in the number of new allegations in 2015, with 69 of the total 99 allegations lodged against UN personnel serving in peace operations.
The United States-sponsored text, adopted as resolution 2272, further requested that the Secretary-General replace all units of the troop- or police-contributing country from which the perpetrator is from if appropriate steps have not been taken by the country to investigate the allegation, and/or when the perpetrators have not been held accountable, and/or when there has been failure to inform the Secretary-General of the progress of its investigation or actions taken.
The resolution also highlighted the Council’s deep concern over the “continuing and serious allegations” of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers in the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (CAR), as well as in other UN peacekeeping operations and by non-UN forces.
Ongoing efforts by Member States to strengthen sexual exploitation and abuse pre-deployment training was also welcomed by the Council, which urged further efforts to be taken in this regard.
In addition, the resolution underscored the critical importance that civilians, in particular women and children sites for internally displaced persons and refugees, are protected from any form of abuse or exploitation. It also encouraged the appropriate UN mechanisms, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), to continue to include allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in their regular reporting.
Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse
Report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, February 16, 2016 (41 pages)
Summary: Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 57/306, the present report provides data on allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in the United Nations system for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2015 and information on measures being taken to strengthen the Organization’ s response to sexual exploitation and abuse in the areas of prevention, enforcement and remedial action.
Read also:
U.S. official blasts UN over response to sexual abuse by Canadian peacekeeper, by Geoffrey York, The Globe and Mail, March 10, 2016
UN report on stopping peacekeeper sex crimes fails, say critics, interview on CBC The Current, March 14, 2016 with Emma Phillips, counsel for the Independent Panel on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by International Peacekeeping Forces in the Central African Republic
Fresh allegations of sexual abuse made against UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic, UN News Centre, Jan 5, 2016
UN peacekeepers who rape and abuse are criminals – so treat them as such, by Joanne Mariner, The Guardian, Aug 20, 2015
… “We cannot rest,” [said the UN Secretary General] , “until we have rooted out all such practices. And we must make sure that those involved are held fully accountable.”
These words sound very much like the ones spoken by the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon last week in response to reports of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in Central African Republic (CAR). But they were spoken more than a decade ago. It was a previous secretary general, Kofi Annan, who first pledged to eliminate the scourge of sexual abuse from the UN…
UN: Peacekeepers in Haiti exploited women by trading aid for sex, Al Jazeera, June 10, 2015
Rape Accountability and Prevention Project, by Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
