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http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/05/campaign-to-end-sexual-violence-targets-civilian-peacekeepers-first/
Campaign to End Impunity for Sexual Violence by UN Peacekeeping
Personnel
Different
jurisdictions and immunities apply to civilian and military personnel, made
more obscure by a lack of transparency and detail in the U.N.’s reporting of
abuse cases. Photo: UN Photo/Pasqual Gorriz
UNITED
NATIONS, May 13, 2015 (IPS) - “We can really argue as much as
we want but if we put ourselves in the skin of victims, we just have to do
something to stop this.”
This was Graça Machel’s appeal at the launch of Code Blue, the
campaign to end impunity for sexual violence by United Nations (U.N.)
peacekeeping personnel.
Machel, a
renowned human rights advocate, spoke of her own dismay when researching the
landmark U.N. study ‘The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children’.
“We came
across, eye to eye, women and girls who had been abused by U.N. peacekeeping
personnel – it was shocking to us,” Machel said.
Peacekeeping
is about more than military peace but also about bringing peace in people
themselves, Machel said.
Her sentiments were shared by a panel of international leaders,
including Lt. General Roméo Dallaire, Force Commander for the U.N. mission
during the Rwandan genocide; Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, former
Under-Secretary General; Theo Sowa, CEO of the African Women’s Development
Fund; and Paula Donovan Co-director of AIDS-Free World,
the organisation spearheading Code Blue.
The panel
implored the United Nations and world leaders to act, and called for a truly
independent Commission of Inquiry, with unobstructed access to U.N. records and
correspondence, and full subpoena power.
Mahel
called for the response to cut through the complex technicalities that raised
many questions from the media present at the launch.
The
problem is truly complex, with different jurisdictions and immunities applying
to civilian and military personnel, made more obscure by a lack of transparency
and detail in the U.N.’s reporting of cases.
One issue
discussed at the forum was Code Blue’s decision to first focus on civilian
personnel. The founders of Code Blue argued that this is an important first
step to addressing the overall problem.
IPS spoke
with Dr Roisin Burke, author of the book ‘Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by U.N.
Military Contingents,’ who said that while she agreed that the “jurisdictional
vacuum” surrounding civilian personnel needed to be addressed, she also hoped
that Code Blue would equally tackle sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by
both military and civilian personnel.
“The vast
majority of U.N. operations, 70-80 percent of the people who are deployed are
military, so you’ve got hundreds of thousands of military personnel deployed
across the world,” Burke said.
“Per
person, it’s happening more with civilian personnel, the problem is that
doesn’t mean that in terms of numbers that it’s happening more.”
The panel
also discussed the problems among military personnel, which Code Blue plans to
address after first tackling the problem of bureaucratic delays around
immunities impairing investigations into civilian personnel.
Lt.
General Dallaire also discussed the problems associated with investigating
allegations against military personnel who continue to fall under the
jurisdiction of their home country.
“Each
country will act according to what it thinks is appropriate and more often than
not rather than a full-fledged investigation you simply see a plane arriving
and a bunch of people being put on a plane and disappearing,” said Dallaire.
“There is
far too much centralisation and taking away the ability of those in the field
to be able to do the investigation in a timely fashion,” he said.
The panel
disagreed with the idea that troop contributing countries will be less likely
to send troops if their troops risk prosecution for sexual abuse.
“I come
from Bangladesh, the largest troop contributing country. Bangladesh will
welcome very much setting the standards high,” Chowdhury said.
Dallaire
also agreed that this argument did not hold up and that it was holding the U.N.
to ransom.
The first
problem Code Blue plans to address though is immunity for civilian personnel.
Donovan said that it was often not possible to substantiate allegations against
civilian peacekeepers because bureaucracy gets in the way.
“The first
step that kicks off the bureaucracy is immunity,” she said.
Immunity
is not meant to cover sexual exploitation and abuse because personnel are only
covered by immunity during their normal functions as a U.N. staff member.
However, Donovan said that there are significant delays because each individual
case has to be reviewed by the secretary-general before immunity can be waived.
During this time evidence is eroded and witnesses disappear, making a
successful investigation almost impossible.
Chowdhury
told IPS he believed the U.N. should no longer hide behind legal difficulties
and should take the moral high ground in these situations. He added that
addressing sexual exploitation and abuse was important if the U.N. was serious
about involving more women in peacekeeping operations.
An
internal expert report leaked by AIDS-Free World earlier this year said that
there is considerable under-reporting of these cases.
Sowa spoke
passionately, saying it was heartbreaking this issue had to be discussed, “when
the U.N. becomes the protector of predators instead of the prosecutor of
predators, that destroys me because I believe in the U.N.”