Refugees International: Publications: publication

Home About Us Donate Where We Work Issues Blog

Must Boys Be Boys? Conclusion

Peacekeeping & Sexual Exploitation Report

Conclusion

The “boys will be boys” attitude which has characterized UN peacekeeping missions since Cambodia in the early 1990s is slowly changing. Positive developments include the appointment of a female SRSG in Burundi, the inclusion of gender advisors on assessment missions, and increased importance of the Office of Gender Advisors within peacekeeping missions. The Zeid Report is an honest and far-reaching report that makes numerous important and bold recommendations, notably that troop-contributing countries hold on-site courts-martial for guilty parties and before deployment adopt formal memoranda of understanding to forward the cases of sexual exploitation and abuse to their competent national or military authorities.

As the UN continues to discuss new reforms to strengthen its agencies, key changes must be made to eliminate sexual exploitation and abuse and the tolerance of these activities throughout the United Nations. The scandals that have tarnished the UN’s image in the countries that it has been deployed to help are intolerable and must not be repeated. In the climate of reform, the women and children who have been exploited and abused must not be forgotten.

Refugees International supports the major recommendations in the Secretary-General’s report and urges the major troop-contributing countries to adopt them. RI recognizes, however, that financial and human resources will be required to support the overall strategy. While this report is an important first step, these initiatives must be fully supported and funded by all members of the United Nations. If donors are serious about ending sexual exploitation and ensuring the protection of victims of conflict throughout the world, they must give the United Nations the resources that it needs to fight this problem within the framework of its peacekeeping operations.

The Zeid report has called for the creation of an external watchdog organization. The United Nations must bring in organizations with expertise on sexual exploitation, victim assistance, and personnel issues to ensure that new policies that are being created are actually implemented throughout the organization and in the fi eld. The only way that sexual exploitation and abuse can be ended in UN peacekeeping missions is if the policies are developed in a transparent manner and compliance is guaranteed by an outside independent organization.

In addition, while the United Nations is addressing the problem of sexual exploitation and abuse of vulnerable women by its peacekeeping troops, similar attention and training are not currently being provided to the African Union mission in Sudan (AMIS). Since sexual exploitation and abuse of vulnerable women is not limited to UN peacekeeping troops but has plagued militaries around the world, it is imperative that AMIS troops be held to the same standards as UN peacekeeping troops.

Every SRSG and military commander has a “zero tolerance” policy when it comes to sexual exploitation and abuse, but without the ability to actually implement these recommendations, zero tolerance is meaningless.

Table of Contents