The UN Zero Tolerance Policy’s Whereabouts: On the Discordance between Politics and Law on the Internal-External Divide

Shifts in migration and border control policies may increase the likelihood of trauma exposure related to child–parent separation and result in costs to the health system and society. In the present study, we estimated direct and indirect costs per child as well as overall cohort costs of border control policies on migrant children and adolescents who were separated from their parents, detained, and placed in the custody of the United States following the implementation of the 2018 Zero Tolerance Policy. Economic modeling techniques, including a Markov process and Monte Carlo simulation, based on data from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network's Core Data Set (N = 458 migrant youth) and published studies were used to estimate economic costs associated with three immigration policies: No Detention, Family Detention, and Zero Tolerance. Clinical evaluation data on mental health symptoms and disorders were used to estimate the initial health state and risks associated with additional trauma exposure for each scenario. The total direct and indirect costs per child were conservatively estimated at $33,008, $33,790, and $34,544 after 5 years for No Detention, Family Detention, and Zero Tolerance, respectively. From a health system perspective, annual estimated spending increases ranged from $1.5 million to $14.9 million for Family Detention and $2.8 million to $29.3 million for Zero Tolerance compared to baseline spending under the No Detention scenario. Border control policies that increase the likelihood of child and adolescent trauma exposure are not only morally troubling but may also create additional economic concerns in the form of direct health care costs and indirect societal costs.

The Democratic Republic of Congo hosts the longest-running and largest United Nations peacekeeping mission in history. The United Nations also has reckoned with sexual exploitation and abuse in its own ranks and, in 2003, recognized its importance with a Bulletin which became known as the 'zero tolerance policy'. Policymakers and researchers have paid little sustained attention, however, to children fathered by peacekeepers. In this article, we share the results of our mixed-methods SenseMaker® research with community members who interact with peacekeeping personnel and interviews with 58 women who are raising children fathered by peacekeepers. Despite the United Nations policies in place, most women did not report children fathered by peacekeepers and did not receive systematic support. The analysis reveals a large gap between the aspirations of the 'zero tolerance policy' and its operationalization in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We uncovered deep poverty and insecurity as both driving and resulting from women's sexual encounters with peacekeepers, with support needs largely unmet. We argue that there is a lack of enforcement of the United Nations policies, jurisdictional complexity and inaccessible justice, as well as significant gaps between the United Nations' approach to investigating and supporting children fathered by peacekeepers and the expectations of mothers, resulting in worsened life conditions for mothers and their children.

The United Nations (UN) has a zero-tolerance policy against all forms of sexual violence, which was reaffirmed by the Security Council in the Resolution on sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers, and the Resolution Women and Peace and Security: Sexual violence in conflict. Despite the zero-tolerance policy, the UN has continuously had to deal with allegations of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation (SEA) against members of its peacekeeping missions. This chapter provides a detailed overview of the scale of SEA against women and children by peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic and asserts that the statistics point towards a culture of impunity. It is argued that this culture of impunity ought to be understood against the backdrop of the immunity enjoyed by the UN which extends to its civilian personnel; and the bilateral agreements entered into between the UN and troop contributing countries (TCCs) in terms of which TCCs retain exclusive prosecutorial jurisdiction over military peacekeepers. The chapter assesses the measures implemented by the UN in response to the problem of SEA and concludes that although it is commendable that the UN has taken steps to acknowledge the pain and suffering of the victims, in order to eradicate the culture of impunity amongst UN peacekeepers, the UN ought to review its accountability framework for peacekeeping forces, to align it with its stated commitment to the zero-tolerance policy on SEA.KeywordsSexual exploitation and abuseWomen and childrenUnited NationsPeacekeeping forcesAccountability framework

The UN's commitment to zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, which has been strengthened ever since the Secretary-General's 2003 ‘Bulletin’, must be understood against the general public's non-tolerance of sexual misconduct by peacekeepers. While the UN has devoted its energy to restoring the public's confidence, the implementation of the policy cannot be effective, due to the limits of the UN's command authority, without the adoption of the same policy in contingent-contributing countries, who assume even greater roles under the revised model memorandum of understanding in 2007. Furthermore, not all victims approve the UN's zero tolerance pledge, out of fear that they may lose their only recourse to making a living. While it will likely take time to alleviate existing obstacles to align all the actors involved, the general public may not be tolerant enough to allow a further moratorium.

As schools across the United States begin to move away from the harsh Zero Tolerance policies that characterised the better part of the previous three decades, there is an opportunity to change the focus of school discipline. Frequently, school discipline policies are centred on punitive approaches that separate students from their peers. Rather than meeting the needs of these students, schools alienate them from their peers, teachers, and school communities. The goal of the education system is to provide children and adolescents with a quality education that will allow them to grow into productive and participating members of society. Zero Tolerance and school discipline policies were created to protect students, but, in practice, these policies have proven to be harmful and have unintended consequences. Too often, punitive disciplinary action in the school setting puts students on a pathway that leads into the juvenile or criminal justice system. Although the Zero Tolerance policy is a federal initiative, many states are beginning to realise the harmful impacts this policy has on students, especially marginalised students. As a result, states are beginning to pass legislation that veers away from Zero Tolerance, focusing more on alternatives like restorative practices. This article will explore these issues and share information on policies current states are using and the implications of these policies on students, as well as the school-to-prison pipeline.

During the past decade and a half, two separate legislative developments influenced the moral fabric of American public schools. Over the course of that time every state passed some form of zero tolerance legislation aimed at curbing violence in schools. In addition, half of those states also passed new or revised legislation mandating or encouraging character education. This article discusses the problematic disconnect between these two trends. Although numerous problems with pervasive zero tolerance legislation and policies have been identified by scholars, this article argues that one overlooked problem concerns the fact that zero tolerance policies have been implemented in schools without being connected to the character education of students and the larger moral vision of schools. A resolution to this problem is then proposed that draws on the principles of restorative justice and a broad vision of character education.

Zero Tolerance Policies: Criminalizing Childhood and Disenfranchising the Next Generation of Citizens

BackgroundPeacekeeper-perpetrated sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) is widespread. While the United Nation’s (UN) zero-tolerance policy prohibits all exploitative and abusive peacekeeper sexual interactions with host community members, its implementation has been criticized for failing to recognize women’s agency and survival needs by oversimplifying the complex and dynamic romantic and transactional elements. This study aims to demonstrate that not all sexual interactions between peacekeepers and host community members are equally exploitative or abusive.MethodsThe Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was chosen for this study due to its longstanding history of UN peacekeeping operations, documented cases of peacekeeper-perpetrated SEA, and socio-economic and gendered inequalities that contribute to transactional and coercive sexual interactions. To provide evidence that not all sexual interactions between peacekeepers and host community members are equally exploitative and/or abusive and to better understand how local community members perceive these sexual interactions at the intersection of romance and mutually beneficial transactions, we analysed micro-narrative data (n = 1822) from the eastern DRC.ResultsFour prominent types of sexual interactions were identified: romantic, transactional sex, sex work, and sexual assault/harassment. The characteristics of the interactions highlighted the influence of structural factors, economic need, and gendered power. Community perceptions around initiation, intermediaries, and beneficiaries varied and were, by construct, at odds with the UN’s conceptualization of sexual interactions between their staff and beneficiaries as exploitative and/or abusive due to the power dynamics inherent in such relationships.ConclusionsThe zero-tolerance policy fails to recognize the nuanced range of diverse and dynamic sexual interactions between UN peacekeepers and host community members in the DRC. It is recommended that SEA reporting measures be reconfigured in light of this complexity, and we suggest a non-binary method of measuring the degree of exploitation and abuse. Accepting that sexual interactions between host community members and UN peacekeepers represent varying levels of exploitation and abuse may improve interventions to better prevent and address peacekeeper-perpetrated SEA.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13031-025-00693-x.

This paper investigates the zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and sexual abuse by United Nations peacekeepers as it relates to survival sex in peacekeeping economies. Understanding the policy as a form of discursive power, the analysis seeks to reveal the effects of zero tolerance by asking: what is obscured about survival sex in peacekeeping economies when it is viewed through the lens of zero tolerance, and to whose benefit? The argument is that zero tolerance is a poor policy framework to address peacekeeper engagement in survival sex because it fails to grapple with the complex set of economic circumstances that give rise to survival sex decision-making by girls and women in peacekeeping economies. In light of the failures of zero tolerance, a rights-based approach to survival sex in peacekeeping economies represents a more promising means of addressing the issue to the benefit of local girls and women.

At Wentworth, rule violations are normally minor in nature and handled at the private school administration‘s discretion. A recent event involving the possession and use of alcohol during an off-campus school overnight activity leads to the development of a zero tolerance substance abuse policy. The zero tolerance policy is tested by one of the school’s top students and her influential parents. This case study examines the possible impact zero tolerance policies can have on behavior management in a niche, private, secondary education institution. Related educational leadership issues include: zero-tolerance education policies; school organizational culture; punitive and restorative mechanisms of social justice; moral and ethical school leader decision-making; and the politics of education.

Why do people continue FGM? Is the zero toleranceZero Tolerance policy effective in abolishing FGM? To answer these questions, this chapter focuses on three topics. This chapter shows that the zero toleranceZero Tolerance policy and itsLaw, (Laws)anti-FGM anti-FGM lawsAnti-FGMlaw have had a limited effect on changing the patriarchal mindset expecting girls to be cut. It argues that the positive deviance approachPositive Deviance Approach appears more effective in this regard, and that, in addition to abolishing patriarchal values, eradicating poverty is crucial to the abolishmentAbolishment\"Eradication\" of FGM. As Nawal El SaadawiEl Saadawi, Nawal, (El Saadawi) claims, FGM is not an 'unusual and barbaric oppression to which women are exposed only in African or Arab countries'. Importantly, women in both developing and developed countries are 'victims of cultural and psychological clitoridectomy' (El Saadawi, in Hidden face of eve: women in the Arab world. Zed Books, London, El Saadawi N (2015) Hidden face of eve: women in the Arab world (3rd ed., trans: Hatata S). Zed Books, London: XLVI–XLVII). ThisEl Saadawi, Nawal, (El Saadawi) chapter takes the reader beyond the limitations of cultural relativism and the zero toleranceZero Tolerance policy in the quest to completely abolish all forms of FGM and the patriarchal norms which underpin it and provide a breeding ground for gender-based violence.

In the face of an unprecedented surge in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping activity over the past three years—with now almost 100,000 military, police and civilian personnel deployed on four continents in 18 operations—there is a need for the UN to develop a comprehensive doctrine that better defines what modern UN peacekeeping has become and that covers the full range of civilian peacebuilding activities that are now a standard feature of Security Council mandates. This paper serves as a primer and proposes an agenda for debate on such a doctrine. It summarises evolutions in thinking and practice over the past 15 years. It also highlights key conceptual challenges and political fault lines to be reconciled in order for a new comprehensive doctrine to enjoy broad support of the UN's 192 Member States, while still providing relevant guidance to thousands of personnel on the front-lines of the effort to help rebuild war-torn states.

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Violence against nurses is a major challenge for healthcare administrators. It is gaining more attention because it has a negative impact on nurses, the quality of health care and health organization. Common types of violence include physical harassment, sexual abuse, aggression, mobbing and bullying. Patients, their relatives and co-workers are considered the main perpetrators. To determine the prevalence rate of workplace violence against nursing professionals in a university hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, most frequent type and perpetrators as well as the contributing factors. This quantitative cross-sectional study adapted a survey questionnaire from the Massachusetts Nurses Association Survey on Workplace Violence/Abuse to collect data from a quota sample of 370 nursing personnel. Almost half of the participants had experienced violence in the professional setting during the 12months prior to the study. The majority of subjects perceived workplace violence as verbal abuse. Nearly all nursing professionals identified patients as the leading cause. Slightly more than half mentioned understaffing, misunderstandings, long waits for service and lack of staff training and policies for preventing crisis as contributing factors. The prevalence rate is extremely high among nurses in the targeted Saudi university hospital. Saudi health as well as university hospitals' administration and policy makers should adopt and introduce a 'zero tolerance policy', set standards and develop practical measures for preventing the incidence and for controlling the prevalence of violence against nurses. Besides, healthcare organizations, particularly hospitals, can fulfil their obligations to provide both staff and patients with more secure environment. Further research on the topic is needed.

BackgroundThe disparities and inequalities that exists in the education system are perpetuated through behavioral alternative schools (BASs). It is suggested that assignment to a BAS does not significantly improve students' grades but rather leads primarily Black impoverished students through the school-to-prison pipeline.ObjectiveAlthough BASs have existed for more than four decades and continue to enroll annually large populations of America's students, implications for policy, practice, and future research remain relevant.MethodsThis review offers a brief history of BASs and zero tolerance policy (ZTP) in public schools.FindingsThe review offers ZTP recommendations for policy restoration and provides an outline of a four-step process for implementing ZTP fairly and equally.ConclusionsMoving current alternative schools into self-directed learning with social and community supports, not only promotes social justice, but also allows for restoration of ZTP to focus on the undeniable need to keep children of all races safe in school.