12/01/2006

Read more about Refugees International's work to end sexual exploitation by UN peacekeepers.

For Immediate Release: December 1, 2006
Contact: Megan Fowler, 202-828-0110 x214
megan@refugeesinternational.org

Washington, DC – Refugees International applauded the United Nations today for convening the High-Level Conference on Eliminating Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN and NGO Personnel on December 4. In anticipation of this conference, which UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will address, UN agencies and more than 20 non-governmental organizations signed a statement committing themselves to take ten key steps to end sexual exploitation and abuse. The steps include taking swift and appropriate action against staff members who commit sexual abuse, incorporating standards on sexual exploitation and abuse in training courses and materials, preventing perpetrators of abuse from being hired or deployed, and ensuring that people can report complaints of abuse in an easy and accessible manner.

“Allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse cast a dark shadow over the positive impacts that UN peacekeepers and the civilian personnel of UN and other international agencies have made overseas,” said Joel Charny, Vice President for Policy of Refugees International. “These ten steps are critical to stopping overseas personnel from exploiting and abusing the very people they are there to assist, but as a community we must go beyond words and ensure that all international agencies implement these measures as they help vulnerable people.”

Although a lot of attention has been paid to sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers in the past, Refugees International praised the UN for addressing the problem beyond its peacekeeping forces and focusing on all UN personnel and NGO workers. A 2005 UN report documented numerous complaints of expatriate men, both UN employees and others, carrying on inappropriate relationships with local women, and Refugees International had recommended that steps be taken to address civilian personnel in its 2005 report, Must Boys Be Boys? Ending Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in UN Peacekeeping Missions.

“While much of the spotlight on sexual exploitation and abuse has been cast on UN peacekeepers, it is important to acknowledge that these allegations also have been made against both UN staff and the personnel of non-governmental organizations,” said Sarah Martin, Refugees International Advocate and author of Must Boys Be Boys? “This behavior must not be tolerated. It is essential that all international organizations ensure that staff members who commit such abuses against vulnerable people like women and children be appropriately punished.”

Must Boys Be Boys? emphasized that while the UN had a “zero tolerance” policy and numerous guidelines to end sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers, these policies were not always followed in the field. Ultimately, the policies had not changed a “hyper-masculine culture and tradition of silence” that encourages sexual exploitation and abuse. Similarly, Refugees International urged that the UN and other international agencies ensure that resources be committed to implement the actions discussed at the conference and guarantee real change.

Must Boys Be Boys? is available online at: http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/publication/

###

Refugees International is Washington, DC-based advocacy organization that generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world and works to end the conditions that create displacement.