UN tackles sex abuse by troops

Since accusations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in Congo arose a year ago, the United Nations has taken vigorous measures to address a problem that has dogged it for years.

Consider:

• Since Jan. 1, 2004, the UN has investigated 152 cases of alleged sexual violations - dismissing five UN staff and sending home 77 military personnel and national police from their missions, including six commanders.

• The UN Security Council held its first-ever meeting on May 31 to hold countries that contribute troops more accountable, urging them to end impunity and prosecute perpetrators at home. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will now track the progress in these countries. France, for example, has imprisoned one of its peacekeepers for allegedly filming himself having sex with children in Congo, while countries like Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Tunisia, and South Africa have announced disciplinary action against some of their peacekeepers.

• The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations has created special units in each mission to monitor conduct and report incidents, and even printed pocket-sized reminders of the peacekeeper "code of conduct."

Jordanian UN Ambassador Prince Zeid al-Hussein, Mr. Annan's special adviser on sexual exploitation and abuse, in March produced a wide range of recommendations, since endorsed by various UN bodies. The General Assembly may convene a special session this summer to further discuss this issue.

"For a peacekeeper to exploit the vulnerabilities of a wounded population, already the victim of all that is tragic and cruel in war, is really no different than a physician who would violate the patient entrusted to their care or the lifeguard who drowns the very people in need of rescue," Mr. Hussein recently told the UN Security Council.

Among the recommendations: UN managers and military commanders should not only create an environment to deter exploitation, but be held responsible if it occurs. Another is for financial compensation to victims, especially if offspring result.

Additional steps include enabling the local population to come forward with charges, through hotlines or by approaching the special units directly.

To be sure, hurdles remain. Those include obstruction by closed military cultures that tend to circle the wagons when accused of wrong-doing, the clash between different political and religious cultures, and sensitivity about state sovereignty. While the UN has growing needs for their peacekeepers, the countries themselves are ultimately responsible for them.

"The UN system has to play a delicate balancing act - being outspoken and direct in its condemnation of the outrageous behavior of some of its peacekeepers, while carefully maneuvering around some of its member states' intense sensitivities to issues regarding their own national affairs," says Sarah Shteir, of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom's PeaceWomen Project, which monitors the issue.

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