UN’s Antonio Guterres should keep the promise of fighting sexual abuse
The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has vowed to take strong measures to end sexual exploitation and abuse within its institutions across the world.
The world body released a report on Tuesday, covering allegations related to sexual exploitation committed between January 1 and December 31, 2021. The report noted allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse levelled against peacekeepers, special political missions, and other UN institutions.
The UN vowed to fight hard to curb such practices within the United Nations institutions, partners, and other non-governmental organisations.
Undeniably, there have been several reports about sexual exploitation and abuses by UN peacekeepers in almost all countries where the missions operate.
The United Nations should take serious measures against those peacekeepers who sexually abuse the vulnerable women they pretend to be protecting.
In April 2018, some members of the UN peacekeeping mission from Nepal were accused of child rape in South Sudan. According to UN officials, the allegations involved Nepalese troops serving in the UNMISS who allegedly raped two teenage girls. It remains unclear how many Nepalese soldiers are involved.
Meanwhile, in February 2018, about 46 UN peacekeepers from Ghana were recalled from their base in Wau after the mission received allegations of sexual exploitation of women.
In contrast, the findings of a United Nations Response Team tasked with investigating sexual abuse allegations made by UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2016 indicate sex with minors. The report indicated that there was evidence of transactional sex and sex with minors. The abuse was committed by members of the Tanzanian contingent of the mission.
These are just a few out of the many allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse committed by men in blue helmets, whose mission is to protect vulnerable civilians in conflict zones.
Therefore, the UN Secretary-General, alongside the United Nations Security Council, should strengthen the resolutions of its missions to ensure that those peacekeepers who abuse minors or practise transactional sex. It is not enough to deport the peacekeepers without delivering justice to the victims, like the 46 Ghanaians who were deported, and nobody knows whether they have been punished by the authorities of their country.
Let it not just be lips promises because the body has always reported sexual violence committed by individuals or organized units. If punishing the perpetrators is a difficult task, the UNSC should consider allowing the peacekeepers to travel alongside their spouses wherever they may be assigned. That could be an alternative to reduce the vices because the case has been so rampant in most of the UN missions and seems no concrete measures are being taken to address it.
