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Must Boys Be Boys? Empowering Women

Peacekeeping & Sexual Exploitation Report

Empowering Women in the Local Communities

Bettering the lives of women through focused economic and social development programs will help prevent sexual exploitation and abuse from taking root. Many of the victims of sexual exploitation and abuse do not see themselves as victims. They are survivors because they are doing what they must to support themselves and their families in a hostile environment. Until women in post-conflict countries have the means to move beyond mere survival, sexual exploitation and abuse are inevitable.

Though a number of peacekeepers have claimed that their relationships with local women have a genuine romantic dimension to them, the stark inequalities between the parties ensure that such cases are rare. The difference in economic power between UN peacekeepers and local women makes it unlikely that there is any real choice in the relationship for the women involved. This is particularly the case when one examines the young age of many of the victims in the MONUC cases.

As the Zeid Report stresses, the extreme poverty and high incidence of sexual violence against women and children during the conflict combined with local acceptance of violent or exploitative behavior and sexist attitudes has created an environment where the rights of women are not respected. Along with the lack of income-generation possibilities, this has led to a culture where commercial sex work is often the only way for women to earn money for their families and to obtain any measure of economic wealth.

SRSG Valdez of MINUSTAH acknowledged this reality. “The protracted economic crisis and existing social inequalities in Haiti have made women and girls more vulnerable to certain forms of violence, as well as sexual exploitation and abuse… As a result, they have often been forced to turn to prostitution as a means to earn a living in an impoverished society, thus increasing the risk of being exploited by people with a higher standard of living and a higher economic power.”³⁶ Because women often do not have control of their own income and how it is used, women must have far greater economic opportunities to reduce the incidence of “survival prostitution.”

The SRSGs of MINUSTAH and UNMIL strictly prohibit mission personnel from engaging in relations with commercial sex workers. Beyond any moral rationale, the prohibition, if honored, reduces the demand factor that causes an exponential growth in the commercial sex industry, which in turn may jeopardize efforts to maintain rule of law and effective peace in precarious post-conflict situations.³⁷ The UN and donors must move to address issues of trafficking and commercial sex work in the areas in which it operates. Instead of focusing on preventing access to needed contraceptives and assistance for women who have had to engage in commercial sex work, donors should instead focus on providing income-generation assistance for women.

In Refugees International’s (RI) many missions to post-conflict countries, women refugees, IDPs, and survivors of gender-based violence have overwhelmingly asked for income generation activities and microcredit support to start businesses. Particularly vulnerable are women who are former combatants. RI interviewed female combatants in Liberia who were raped, although they preferred to say they were ‘forced to have sex.’ They expressed the desire to start small businesses in Monrovia because they would not be allowed to return to their home villages. “I just want to sell some small things in the market here. There is nothing for me back home,” an 18-year-old former combatant with a child from her time in the armed forces told RI. Humanitarian agencies also informed RI about female combatants who had been ostracized from their communities and had returned to the areas where they had been demobilized to sell their bodies to UN peacekeepers in order to feed and support their children.

Eradicating sexual exploitation by peacekeepers is only possible if the status of women in post-conflict countries is improved. This will demand a sustained and coherent focus by donors and international agencies to find practical ways to challenge and overcome the social, cultural, and political determinants of discrimination against women. Women’s needs must be prioritized in economic development activities and as the formal employment sector is enhanced, women must be given an opportunity to play a role in rebuilding their country. At a minimum, all programming must include women in the decisions that will impact their lives after the international community moves on to the next crisis. Women’s expanded roles in male-dominated areas are critical to understanding and expanding their ability to take charge of their lives.

Refugees International therefore recommends that:

Donors fund income-generation projects and micro-credit schemes aimed at women in post-conflict countries;
Donors and designers of DDR programs pay particular attention to the reintegration needs of former female combatants;
All donors ensure that programs in post-conflict countries mainstream a gender perspective and encourage women’s empowerment in social, political, and economic activities.