The news was alarming. United Nations peacekeepers in war-ravaged Liberia were accused of exchanging food for sex from girls as young as 8. A Save the Children report on the horror found it was the result of inadequate training, zero threat of punishment, and collusion with top mission officials and NGO workers.
That was back in 2006.
Disturbingly, as numerous news stories and UN reports since then have damningly and repeatedly documented, little has changed.
It would be easy to blame UN intransigence and bureaucracy for the problem. And it is true that plays a major role. But the fault also lies with member countries that send peacekeepers to war-ravaged countries or disaster zones. All parties must be held responsible and measures put in place if peacekeepers are to do a proper job of protecting vulnerable populations, not exploiting them.
An Associated Press investigation published last week, for example, found nearly 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers during the past 12 years. Three hundred of the allegations were from children.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Most victims never report sexual abuse and resulting pregnancies for fear of retaliation or because they believe no action will be taken. Sadly, investigations have shown they are correct on both counts.
Worse, some don’t report it because they are too young even to understand what was done to them. That was the horror UN investigators discovered in 2014 in the Central African Republic. There, youngsters in a displaced persons’ camp who approached French peacekeepers for food were regularly abused.
Although the peacekeepers were ultimately sent home in shame by the UN, the case illustrates how the organization and member country both failed these children. First, the UN took too long to investigate and act on the allegations of sexual assaults on children. Second, a panel of French judges chose not to bring charges against the soldiers.
Not that Canada can stand in judgment. In recent years this country has documented alleged sexual abuse by Canadian peacekeepers in Haiti. In one case, an officer was suspended for nine days for his actions. In two cases, Quebec police officers actually retired before facing any discipline.
What can be done to stop the abuse?
- The UN can demand better training for peacekeepers from member countries to ensure they do not engage in sexual exploitation of the people they are sent to protect.
- UN investigators on the ground must respond more quickly to reports of sexual abuse, send those peacekeepers packing and follow up with member countries to make sure they are held to account.
- Countries must prosecute members of their own peacekeeping operations accused of sexual exploitation and assaults.
- All UN member countries must contribute to a special UN fund for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse by international peacekeepers. Only a handful of states (including Norway, Japan, India, Cyprus and Bhutan) have contributed to it since it was set up in 2015. Shamefully, Canada has not.
As of February, there were 91,846 UN peacekeepers in 16 operations around the world. The sex assaults that are all too common to these missions must stop now.