Criminalizing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by Peacekeepers

Abstract

Sexual exploitation and abuse continue to pervade peacekeeping missions, and peacekeepers benefit from near-total impunity. • Several seminal United Nations (UN) studies and expert reports provide a useful blueprint of where the gaps lie, what must be done to address them, and how to do so. • Zero-tolerance UN policies have focused on preventing new abuse and strengthening codes of conduct. These goals are laudable but undermined when not accompanied by consistent discipline and criminal accountability. • Despite eight years of annual resolutions that underscore the need to address the problems, there is no evidence of greater accountability. • More work is needed to finish the job. States are responsible for disciplining and punishing their troops, but the UN must do more to ensure that this happens. • The UN needs to work actively with states to bridge the gaps in domestic legislation by issuing written advice and publishing model legislation. • The UN should publicly name and shame those states that fail to investigate and prosecute credible cases. • The UN should refrain from accepting troop contingents from countries that repeatedly fail to live up to their written assurances to investigate and prosecute. • The memorandum of understanding governing the relationship between the UN and troop-contributing countries should be further revised to introduce greater conditionality into the acceptance and removal of troop contingents.