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POLITICS: “No Go” Zones to Prevent Sex Abuse by U.N. Peacekeepers

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 4 2005 (IPS) - As charges mount of sexual abuse and child molestation by U.N. peacekeepers, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) has drawn up a list of “no go” zones barring visits by blue-helmeted soldiers and civilian staff.

The U.N. peacekeeping missions in Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kosovo and Timore-Leste have established a list of premises and areas – mostly frequented by prostitutes – that will be out of bounds to all U.N. personnel.

“A network of focal points on sexual exploitation and abuse has been established in all mission headquarters to facilitate receipt of allegations,” the head of DPKO, Under-Secretary-General Jean-Marie Guehenno, told delegates Monday.

The DPKO has also set up telephone hotlines in Sierra Leone and Liberia to solicit information on sexual abuse by peacekeepers.

In DRC, where most of the abuses took place, there is a requirement that all peacekeepers wear their uniforms at all times.

Addressing the U.N. Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, Guehenno said his department has completed investigations into allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse involving 98 peacekeeping personnel: 77 military and 19 civilians.

So far, he said, three U.N. staff members have been summarily dismissed; six more were undergoing disciplinary process; and three have been cleared of wrongdoing.

On the military side, Guehenno said, 66 persons have been repatriated or sent home on disciplinary grounds, including six commanders.

Prince Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s adviser on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by U.N. peacekeeping personnel, told the committee that peacekeeping achievements were a source of great national pride for many nations.

“Those countries sent their women and men to bring peace and stability to war-torn states, and some even gave their lives to that noble cause,” he said.

So, it was no surprise that acts of sexual exploitation and abuse “stirred feelings of shame and embarrassment, and sometimes even denial.”

“Everyone should recognise they had a serious problem on their hands, and ensure that every effort was made to prevent such appalling conduct from happening again,” he noted.

“We must overcome this,” he said, adding that it was a problem that had occurred among the military and civilian personnel from a wide range of countries in all parts of the world.

“Their representatives in New York had all too often remained silent out of shame. The silence itself was shameful,” he added.

The prince, who is the permanent representative of Jordan to the United Nations, said his government had to confront some “appalling cases of criminal conduct by its own peacekeepers,” including a brutal rape of a local woman by a Jordanian civilian police officer in Timor-Leste a few years ago, and more recently in Kosovo, when a Jordanian civilian police officer murdered a fellow officer.

After several months of investigations, Prince al-Hussein released a 41-page report last month on the sexual abuse among peacekeepers in the DRC.

The report urged the 191-member U.N. General Assembly to authorise Annan to require DNA or other tests to establish paternity in order to provide child support for children abandoned by peacekeepers.

The DPKO, which oversees about 17 peacekeeping missions worldwide, has admitted it is finding it difficult to investigate charges of sexual exploitation and abuse because “traditional methods of identification through witnesses have proved difficult, if not impossible.”

Since peacekeeping troops provided by member states are subject mostly to their national laws, troop-contributing countries are responsible for the conduct and discipline of their troops.

The report said there is a widespread perception that peacekeeping personnel, whether military or civilian, who commit acts of sexual exploitation and abuse rarely if ever face disciplinary charges for such acts.

Nor are they held to account financially for the harm they cause their victims. At most, they suffer administrative consequences.

Meanwhile , the U.N.’s Security Council’s decision last month to send in a 10,000-strong peacekeeping force into southern Sudan – and a gradual increase in troops in the DRC and Haiti – will nearly double the annual peacekeeping budget: from about 2.6 billion dollars in 2004-2005 to over 5 billion dollars in 2005-2006.

At last count, the 10 largest troop contributors to U.N. operations were Pakistan (8,544 troops), Bangladesh (7,163), Nigeria (3,579), Ghana (3,341), India (2,934), Ethiopia (2,863), South Africa (2,480), Uruguay (1,962), Jordan (1,864), and Kenya (1,831).

The total number of U.N. troops, which currently stand at over 58,000, would increase to over 68,000 when the mission to Sudan is in force.

If a proposed new peacekeeping force is also sent to Somalia later this year, the total could exceed the all-time high of 78,000 troops during the world body’s peacekeeping peak in 1993.