Problem of sexual abuse by peacekeepers now openly recognized,

Broad strategy in place to address it, Security Council told

Head of Peacekeeping, Adviser to Secretary-General Brief

Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, briefing the Security Council today on steps taken to address accusations of sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeeping personnel, said peacekeeping was a dangerous business. “We dishonour these brave men and women when we fail to prevent or punish those from within their ranks who victimize the very people peacekeepers are meant to protect and serve.”

Mr. Guéhenno said that neither the Department of Peacekeeping Operations nor the Member States had discussed the matter until the revelation that a shockingly large number of United Nations peacekeepers had committed such misconduct in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Today, with the severity of the problem openly recognized and a broad United Nations strategy in place to tackle it, concrete meaningful progress was being made.

To be “clear and up front”, however, there was still a considerable way to go, he continued. Not all troop contingents or staff on the ground fully supported all aspects of the “zero tolerance” policy, particularly as it pertained to prostitution. He sought cooperation to address that particular point, and he called for the strengthening of peacekeeping operations and the Office of Oversight Services’ (OIOS) capacity to investigate violations, while respecting due process. Once those hurdles were overcome, it should be possible to significantly narrow the gap between zero tolerance and full compliance, he said.

The Adviser to the Secretary-General on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, warned that allegations against United Nations peacekeeping personnel would remain unacceptably high until all four corners of the strategy were secured. Moreover, with every improvement in the mechanisms designed to facilitate complaints, there would likely be occasional spikes in accusations. Nevertheless, and despite that, the numbers of allegations currently being registered in some locations was still cause for considerable concern.

He said that Member States, together with all personnel in the field, should exert even greater efforts in all the missions concerned to draw down those numbers. Ultimately, the sexual exploitation and abuse issue must be viewed, not as some ephemeral issue of passing importance, but as the serious topic it was. It was difficult to change a culture of dismissiveness, long developed “within ourselves, in our own countries and in the mission areas”. Because peacekeepers and their colleagues were performing a service of immense worth for the world community, it was all the more urgent to remove the blight of sexual exploitation and abuse on what was otherwise a distinguished and appreciated performance.

Calling the sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers “one of the greatest stains on UN history”, the United States’ representative, whose delegation holds the Security Council presidency for the month, said it was absolutely unacceptable that horrific crimes of sexual abuse and exploitation had been committed by United Nations peacekeepers against individuals they had been assigned to protect. In his national capacity, he urged speakers to act now, not only to pursue justice and a resolution to crimes already committed, but to set up the necessary institutions, mechanisms, training, and oversight procedures to ensure that they were not repeated in existing and future peacekeeping operations.

He said that failure to act on the matter would have profound implications for both existing and potential future peacekeeping missions. As the next operation was planned in Darfur, he did not want to worry about possible headlines of United Nations peacekeepers there raping the very population they were entrusted to protect. He concurred fully with Under-Secretary-General Guéhenno when he said last May that it was precisely the United Nations image and reputation that gave it the credibility and reputation to work so effectively in war-torn countries and bring peace and stability to millions across the world. Eliminating such misconduct was integral to the success of peacekeeping. Resolving and preventing future acts of sexual exploitation and abuse called for the same fundamental shift in the culture of the way the Organization operated, he said.

Speakers voiced broad agreement that only by holding itself to the highest standards of ethical conduct could the Organization preserve the credibility and moral authority necessary to carry out its mission in societies already vulnerable and deeply wounded by the turmoil and brutality of war. They rejected the behaviour of those individuals within the peacekeeping operations that threatened to tarnish the name and image that had allowed the United Nations to work effectively in war-torn countries and echoed their support for the United Nations zero tolerance policy.

They also noted the considerable efforts that had been made recently by the Secretary-General and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to ensure progress in that regard. For example, more than 221 peacekeepers had been investigated, 10 civilians had been fired, and more than 88 uniformed personnel had been repatriated. Conduct and discipline units had been established in some peacekeeping missions and the number of gender and children advisers in United Nations peace support missions had increased. It was generally acknowledged, however, that the problems persisted in several missions. Troop-contributing countries, therefore, were urged to ensure that their deployed personnel were appropriately trained and held to the highest standards of conduct. Continuing to tear down the “wall of silence” was deemed imperative to restoring the reputation of the United Nations and all those who represented it.

Representatives of the following countries also participated in the discussion: France; China; Russian Federation; Ghana; Congo; United Kingdom; Greece; Slovakia; Peru; Denmark; Japan; Argentina; Qatar; United Republic of Tanzania; Brazil; Singapore; Austria, on behalf of the European Union; and Canada.

The meeting, which began at 10:17 a.m., was adjourned at 12:58 p.m.

Background

The Security Council today met to consider sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.

On 31 May 2005, the Council issued a presidential statement (document S/PRST/2005/21) on the subject and heard briefings by Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein (Jordan), the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, and Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno (see Press Release SC/8400 of 31 May 2005).

The issue has been addressed in a report from Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Permanent Representative of Jordan, entitled “A comprehensive strategy to eliminate future sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations peacekeeping operations (document A/59/710). The report was written at the request of the Secretary-General. (For a summary of the report, please see Press Release GA/PK/186 of 4 April 2005 that covers a meeting of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations on the issue.)

The Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) issued a report entitled “Investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services into allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo”, dated 5 January 2005. (For a summary of the report, see Press Release GA/AB/3677 of 20 May, covering a meeting of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) on the subject.)

Briefings

JEAN-MARIE GUÉHENNO, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, expressed deep appreciation for the amount of time, energy and political attention Member States had invested recently in seeking solutions to the problem of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping. The troop-contributing countries deserved special praise for engaging with the Secretariat and the membership at large on issues of extreme sensitivity and of great importance to their national honour. He stressed the word “honour” because it had been earned at the cost of the lives of some of their finest uniformed personnel.

Security Council members well knew that peacekeeping was a dangerous business, he said, recalling the tragic incidents that had claimed the lives of peacekeepers, most recently in Haiti and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as deaths, injuries or threats against the lives of mission personnel from Peru to Pakistan, Ireland to India and Bolivia to Brazil. And while peacekeepers worldwide got the job done, despite the risks, Mr. Guéhenno said: “We dishonour these brave men and women when we fail to prevent or punish those from within their ranks who victimize the very people peacekeepers are meant to protect and serve. I’m not so sure this was fully understood a few years ago as clearly as it is today.”

While neither the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) nor the Member States had discussed the matter until the revelation that a shockingly large number of United Nations peacekeepers had committed sexual exploitation and abuse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, today the severity of the problem was openly recognized. Indeed, the General Assembly had adopted a comprehensive strategy to tackle it, which focused on prevention, enforcement and will -– upon the Assembly’s approval of a policy on victim’s assistance –- incorporate remediation as well, he said.

“We have already made concrete meaningful progress to implement that strategy...but I want to be clear and upfront that we still have a considerable way to go”, he said, adding that it must be said that not all troop contingents or staff on the ground fully supported -– even after all the negative publicity and attention –- aspects of the “zero tolerance” policy, particularly as it pertained to prostitution. He sought cooperation to address that particular point, and called for the strengthening of peacekeeping operations and the OIOS capacity to investigate violations, while respecting due process. Once those hurdles had been overcome, he expected to be able to significantly narrow the gap between zero tolerance and full compliance.

“Until then, as we even more aggressively seek out non-compliance measured against a higher standard than ever before, the progress being made will not seem obvious, nor will it be enough”, he said. Turning to progress that had been achieved thus far, he said that, while two years ago the Organization did not even have a uniform standard governing what sexual abuse and exploitation was and was not, today, thanks to the Assembly’s efforts, all United Nations civilian staff members, military personnel, contingents, volunteers and contractors were bound by the same very strict standards outlined in the Secretary-General’s prohibitions on sexual exploitation and abuse.

Further, between 70 and 90 per cent of civilian police and military personnel received mandatory training on sexual exploitation and abuse. The aim was 100 per cent, he added. The Organization had also developed tools to reinforce that training and its underlying message of the duty of care every peacekeeper had to the people they were meant to help. He said that other innovative tools had been developed and were being used, including training materials to educate personnel such as online e-learning standards of conduct, mission readiness booklets, security briefings and anti-sexual-abuse and anti-trafficking posters. He added that host populations were also being targeted in that campaign.

But, prevention could not be achieved through training, information and public outreach alone: welfare was another important part of the equation, as armed forces throughout the world knew too well. That was especially true when uniformed personnel, as well as civilian personnel, were deployed in quasi-war zones in some of the most remote regions of the world. Most missions were now creating constructive recreational outlets, and several had even established, from existing resources, multi-purpose sporting, socializing and dining facilities. He added that in its discussions with the Assembly, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations would encourage troop-contributing countries to make use, in the mission area, of the welfare stipend paid by the Organization of every military peacekeeper.

Turning to enforcement, he said that, during 2005, investigations had been completed into allegations of sexual exploitations and abuse involving 296 peacekeeping personnel –- 84 civilians, 21 police and 191 military personnel. So far, 17 civilians, 16 police and 137 military personnel had been dismissed or repatriated. Those numbers included six commanders. The Department had also sought and received cooperation from two Member States in repatriating entire units for misconduct -– in part related to sexual exploitation and abuse, and in part related to other misconduct.

He said that one of the main reasons significant headway had been made in the areas of enforcement and prevention had been because Member States had endorsed Price Zeid’s call for the creation of a multidisciplinary conduct and discipline team at Department of Peacekeeping Operations headquarters. In addition, eight such teams had been established in peacekeeping missions in Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Timor-Leste. All those teams developed policy and provided oversight of disciplinary issues and ensured the coherent application of United Nations standards and conduct.

He called for the strengthening of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations’ partnership with the OIOS and the wider United Nations system. As for the Member States, he urged the Organizations wider membership to adopt a revised memorandum of understanding to incorporate the standards of conduct contained in the Secretary-General’s prohibitions. He would also urge States to firmly endorse the creation of fully fledged conduct and discipline units at Headquarters and in the field, and to establish such units in missions that were not currently served by them. He would also urge States, including troop contributors, to send an uncompromising message against prostitution in peacekeeping missions.

“Indeed, today, the single measure that would do the most to reduce the level of allegations and strengthen the policy of zero tolerance against sexual exploitation and abuse is if all troop contingents had an active and effective policy against all prostitution in mission areas”, he declared. He added that he would also appeal to Member States not to conflate the issues of procurement procedures being stretched by honest peacekeepers trying to get the job done, with financial fraud, and with sexual exploitation and abuse.

Finally, he said he would also be seeking support on a longer-term reform agenda for peacekeeping in general, which would address the underlying structural weaknesses that gave rise to the acts of misconduct under review today. “We have tens of thousands of extremely competent, honest and courageous personnel in the field. These are your nationals –- uniformed and civilian personnel, alike. We cannot allow acts of serious misconduct by some to betray their good work and tarnish the reputation of the United Nations peacekeeping. It is an indispensable instrument, it is effective, and it is helping to maintain peace for tens of millions of people around the world.”

Prince ZEID RA’AD ZEID AL-HUSSEIN, Adviser to the Secretary-General on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, said that, of the items on the reform agenda, sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers had been able to be treated quietly, without much fuss, and with some measure of success. That assessment might seem out of place, in view of the continued receipt by the Peacekeeping Operations Department of a high number of allegations relating to sexual exploitation and abuse. Nevertheless, he believed that was the correct assessment. The Secretariat and Member States, by and large, had completed, or were about to complete, the changes called for by the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, following its review of the report of the Prince’s team, entitled: “A comprehensive strategy toward the elimination of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations” (document A/59/710).

He said that what remained was rounding out the work of the last 10 months by finalizing the revisions to the 1997 model Memorandum of Understanding to reach an agreement between Member States on the national investigations officer concept –- a concept being refined currently by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) –- and to receive two rather sophisticated documents: the product of the group of legal experts relating to the de facto impunity enjoyed by some civilian staff members; and the United Nations’ policy statement and comprehensive strategy on assistance and support to victims. In April 2005, he said he had expected that the entire reform effort where sexual exploitation and abuse was concerned would last two or so years. He had advised the Special Committee then that it would be wise to treat the simpler, more practical proposals immediately, and to confront those more complex legal, technical issues at a later date, once the preparatory work had been achieved.

Proceeding soon to the second phase of work, the Special Committee would be invited to revisit the recommendation contained in the comprehensive strategy of having the troop-contributing countries conduct their courts martial in the mission area, itself, he said. That topic had not been given more than a cursory reading last year and had been put aside, because some countries had said they could not exercise their jurisdiction extraterritorially. Nevertheless, over the last few months, two major troop contributors had, in fact, completed courts martial in a mission area successfully and, as expected, the troop contributors and the United Nations had been able to retain the confidence of the local populations. More Member States should be encouraged to follow that example, and the Special Committee should, through the General Assembly, invite all those countries able to conduct courts martial in the mission area to do so, and for the Special Committee to establish modalities for that purpose.

Turning to individual civilian staff members and the question of impunity for crimes of a sexual nature committed in mission, he said the difficulty for the United Nations arose whenever grounds for an investigation into suspected criminal conduct began to emerge, but neither the host State nor the sending State were in a position to exercise their jurisdiction, either because of circumstance in theatre or because of legal constraints on the part of the State whose national was under suspicion. The Special Committee, therefore, should provide advice on the best way to proceed, so as to ensure that the original intent of the Charter could be achieved; namely, that United Nations staff and experts on mission would never be effectively exempt from the consequences of criminal acts committed at their duty station, nor unjustly penalized in accordance with due process.

As he understood it, the group had a full draft ready before it, requiring only its final review, he said. Once the experts had adopted their text, it would be sent to the Sixth Committee (Legal). The Special Committee also required the group of legal experts to answer the question about whether the standards drawn up in the Secretary-General’s Bulletin could bind contingent members prior to their conclusion of a memorandum of understanding, and for the group to propose a way of standardizing norms of conduct applicable to all categories of United Nations personnel. Regrettably, the current experts were unable to assume that undertaking, owing to their other commitments. Thus, a new group of experts would be assembled shortly.

He noted that the Secretary-General was also about to release the United Nations’ policy statement and comprehensive strategy on assistance and support to victims. That document was a thoughtful proposal, prepared carefully over the last nine months by members of the Secretariat. It would likely contain some bold recommendations. Once that was presented to the Special Committee sometime over the coming days, it would be important for Member States to remain cognizant, in the balance of their ensuing negotiations, of a sense of responsibility toward the victims of United Nations abuse.

Allegations being lodged against United Nations peacekeeping personnel remained high and unacceptably so, but that was not entirely unexpected, he said. Until all four corners of the strategy were secure, at least some allegations should be expected. Moreover, with every improvement in the mechanisms designed to facilitate complaints, “it is likely we will see occasional spikes in accusations”, he warned. Nevertheless, and despite all of that, the numbers of allegations currently being registered in some locations still caused considerable concern. Member States, therefore, together with all personnel in the field, must exert an even greater effort in all the missions concerned to draw down those numbers. And more resources should be ensured for the OIOS to enable it to carry out its preliminary investigations efficiently, in conjunction with the troop contributors.

Ultimately, he stressed, sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations peacekeeping operations must continue to be viewed, not as some ephemeral issue of passing importance, but as the serious issue it was. It was difficult, however, to change “a culture of dismissiveness, long developed within ourselves, in our own countries and in the mission areas”. A response could often be legislated swiftly when reacting to such crises, but the rate of absorption, of absorbing those changes to the point of being able to say that attitudes had changed, was a difficult proposition. Yet, that could not be held up as an excuse for the persistent nature of those alleged abuses, because there could be no excuse where such a phenomenon existed.

He said that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the OIOS and the Office of Legal Affairs had all responded to the challenges imposed by sexual exploitation and abuse in a manner deserving acknowledgement and gratitude. One could not, and must not, forget that there were peacekeepers representing all parts of the world who were dying every year in pursuit of the objectives being established by the Council. They, and their colleagues, performed a service to the international community of immense worth. Because of that, it was all the more urgent to remove the blight of sexual exploitation and abuse on what was otherwise a distinguished and appreciated performance.

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