[lit-ideas] Report Says Abuse by U.N.'s Blue-Helmets Persists
- From: Eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 13:18:29 EST
Hi,
Yes, it is still being dealt with on many fronts.
Here is an update on the abuses by the UN's Blue Helmets
In a message dated 10/18/2005 4:40:51 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
womensenewstoday@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Here's today's update:
INTERNATIONAL
Report Says Abuse by U.N.'s Blue-Helmets Persists
By Bojana Stoparic - WeNews correspondent
(WOMENSENEWS)--Refugees International is keeping the spotlight on the sexual
conduct of "blue helmets," the slang term for United Nations peacekeepers.
In a report released Tuesday, the Washington-based advocacy group examines
sexual abuse and exploitation within peacekeeping missions in Liberia and
Haiti and describes a "hyper-masculine culture that has created tolerance for
extreme behavior."
The problem of U.N. peacekeepers abusing women is not new. It caused a blaze
of media and political attention in 2004 when peacekeepers in the Democratic
Republic of Congo were revealed to be having sex with females as young as 12
in exchange for food, money or jobs.
Peacekeeper contingents there were initially more concerned with protecting
their national honor against accusations of sexual abuse than investigating
the allegations, according to an internal U.N. document from 2004.
The U.N. General Assembly has given the organization's independent Office of
Internal Oversight Services a mandate to probe all allegations of sexual
abuse. Offices are being set up in peacekeeping missions. In the Democratic
Republic of Congo a professional team has been investigating allegations since
March.
The U.N. acknowledged the extent of sexual abuse in peacekeeping missions in
its own far-reaching report last March, which was widely hailed as a frank
and critical assessment of sexual misconduct in peacekeeping missions.
"It really went out on a limb and made some bold recommendations," says
Sarah Martin, author of today's Refugees International report.
Martin, however, says the U.N. peacekeeping culture is not showing enough
signs of change. "These problems will persist until the root causes are
addressed: the inequity between men and women."
In preparing the report, Martin interviewed about 100 peacekeepers in three
trips to Liberia in 2003 and 2004, and one trip to Haiti early this year. She
has also traveled to Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She
says many peacekeepers told her that it is inevitable and understandable that
men will solicit prostitutes when they are away from home for long periods
of time. This, she told Women's eNews, reflects a male-dominated environment
that treats sexual relations between peacekeepers and local women as justified
and not worthy of comment.
Vulnerable Women
The Refugees International report describes how war-torn societies such as
Haiti and Liberia were marred by sexual violence long before peacekeepers
showed up. Economic devastation left women and children without any means of
survival, forcing them "to offer the only material asset they have to trade,
their bodies, to these peacekeepers."
Given the economic inequality between U.N. peacekeepers and local women,
Martin says, peacekeepers need to see these relationships as a serious misuse
of
power rather than a matter of consensual sex between equal partners.
"These are desperate people trying to survive, to clothe and feed their
families," Martin says, "and many women don't see themselves as victims."
Sexual violence and exploitation characterizes many of the world's conflicts
and both activists and U.N. officials say peacekeepers are supposed to be
part of the solution, not part of the problem.
"To take advantage of your position of power and influence like that is
particularly egregious," says Milkah Kihunah, who monitors peacekeeping
missions
for the New York-based Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
"It's a developmental challenge that falls to the international community and
donors as well as the U.N."
Allegations for Past 15 Years
Over the past 15 years, allegations of sexual abuse have been made against
peacekeepers in each of the U.N.'s peacekeeping missions, including Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Cambodia, Timor-Leste and Liberia.
Tuesday's report argues for applying the principles of Resolution 1325,
which the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted five years ago on Oct. 31,
2000.
That resolution called on U.N. agencies to integrate a gender lens into all
of their activities in order to address the disproportionate impact of armed
conflict on women and to better understand the gender implications of
peacekeepers' work.
Martin suggests more micro-finance and income-generating projects targeted
at women to help alleviate peacekeeping abuse. She said the displaced and
refugee women she spoke to in Liberia and Haiti overwhelmingly ask for
assistance
in starting their own businesses.
The U.N.'s own report in March recommended establishing professional
investigative units to pursue allegations of misconduct and collect evidence,
and
on-site courts-martial to prosecute soldiers. It also recommended holding
managers and commanders accountable for the behavior of their troops.
Martin, however, questions whether enough human and financial resources will
be allocated to implement those recommendations and says the United Nations
has had difficulty filling key positions to receive and oversee reports of
sexual exploitation and abuse in a timely manner.
New U.N. Measures
The United Nations has instituted a number of new measures to fight abuse in
recent months, according to Anna Shotton of the U.N.'s Department of
Peacekeeping Operations.
In August it announced that eight of its 18 peacekeeping missions would
establish specific units to ensure that all incoming peacekeeping personnel
are
trained on what constitutes sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as
reinforce the idea that such behavior is a serious disciplinary offense. They
will
also set up systems to receive complaints of abuse, review and verify the
facts, and forward them to the U.N.'s internal investigators.
The U.N. official added that the new conduct and discipline units in the
eight missions--including Liberia, Haiti and Sudan--are at different stages of
recruitment. A number of missions have also set up hotlines and e-mail
accounts to receive complaints.
Units for the 10 remaining missions are planned for 2006.
Martin, however, worries that the United Nations is focusing too much on
conduct and discipline at the expense of putting more women in its ranks.
In 2004 only 4.4 percent of civilian police and 1 percent of military
personnel working in peacekeeping missions were women, and women were only
27.5
percent of civilian personnel. The report argues that, as a consequence, a
"boys
will be boys" mentality toward sexual abuse has evolved in peacekeeping
missions.
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom's Kihunah agrees. "The
presence of women in peacekeeping missions makes men adapt their behaviors and
brings a gender perspective to relations with the local community," she said.
Martin cautions that just having more women on missions won't necessarily
prevent sexual misconduct, as the involvement of women in the U.S. military
abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq shows.
She emphasizes that male as well as female peacekeepers need to be concerned
with how women are affected by the mission and by armed conflict in general.
Bojana Stoparic is a freelance writer based in New York.
For more information:
Refugees International-- - Addressing the Sexual Misconduct of Peacekeepers:
- http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/4047
PeaceWomen: - Women's International League for Peace and Freedom: -
http://www.peacewomen.org/un/pkwatch/pkindex.html
Sex-Assault Continues Unchecked in Congo
http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2218/
________________________________________________________________
For any comments about this and any other story, please send a letter to the
editors at http://www.womensenews.org/letters/discus.pl
Copyright 2005 Women's eNews. The information contained in this Women's
eNews report may--with the prior written authorization of Women's eNews--be
published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed. To obtain
permission,
send an e-mail to permissions@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and provide the publication or
broadcast date and the name of the newspaper, magazine, radio or television
station, cable network, Web site, newsletter or list serve where it will be
replicated. Please include the approximate size of the audience you intend to
reach.
--- Begin Message ---
- From: "Women's eNews" <womensenewstoday@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: eternitytime1@xxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 05:40:34 -0400 (EDT)
Bojana Stoparic reports today on how a hyper-masculine culture among U.N.
peacekeepers, often called blue helmets, continues to tolerate extreme
behavior. A report released today by Refugees International looks at the issue
in peacekeeping missions.
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________________________________________________________________
Here's today's update:
INTERNATIONAL
Report Says Abuse by U.N.'s Blue-Helmets Persists
By Bojana Stoparic - WeNews correspondent
(WOMENSENEWS)--Refugees International is keeping the spotlight on the sexual
conduct of "blue helmets," the slang term for United Nations peacekeepers.
In a report released Tuesday, the Washington-based advocacy group examines
sexual abuse and exploitation within peacekeeping missions in Liberia and Haiti
and describes a "hyper-masculine culture that has created tolerance for extreme
behavior."
The problem of U.N. peacekeepers abusing women is not new. It caused a blaze of
media and political attention in 2004 when peacekeepers in the Democratic
Republic of Congo were revealed to be having sex with females as young as 12 in
exchange for food, money or jobs.
Peacekeeper contingents there were initially more concerned with protecting
their national honor against accusations of sexual abuse than investigating the
allegations, according to an internal U.N. document from 2004.
The U.N. General Assembly has given the organization's independent Office of
Internal Oversight Services a mandate to probe all allegations of sexual abuse.
Offices are being set up in peacekeeping missions. In the Democratic Republic
of Congo a professional team has been investigating allegations since March.
The U.N. acknowledged the extent of sexual abuse in peacekeeping missions in
its own far-reaching report last March, which was widely hailed as a frank and
critical assessment of sexual misconduct in peacekeeping missions.
"It really went out on a limb and made some bold recommendations," says Sarah
Martin, author of today's Refugees International report.
Martin, however, says the U.N. peacekeeping culture is not showing enough signs
of change. "These problems will persist until the root causes are addressed:
the inequity between men and women."
In preparing the report, Martin interviewed about 100 peacekeepers in three
trips to Liberia in 2003 and 2004, and one trip to Haiti early this year. She
has also traveled to Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She
says many peacekeepers told her that it is inevitable and understandable that
men will solicit prostitutes when they are away from home for long periods of
time. This, she told Women's eNews, reflects a male-dominated environment that
treats sexual relations between peacekeepers and local women as justified and
not worthy of comment.
Vulnerable Women
The Refugees International report describes how war-torn societies such as
Haiti and Liberia were marred by sexual violence long before peacekeepers
showed up. Economic devastation left women and children without any means of
survival, forcing them "to offer the only material asset they have to trade,
their bodies, to these peacekeepers."
Given the economic inequality between U.N. peacekeepers and local women, Martin
says, peacekeepers need to see these relationships as a serious misuse of power
rather than a matter of consensual sex between equal partners.
"These are desperate people trying to survive, to clothe and feed their
families," Martin says, "and many women don't see themselves as victims."
Sexual violence and exploitation characterizes many of the world's conflicts
and both activists and U.N. officials say peacekeepers are supposed to be part
of the solution, not part of the problem.
"To take advantage of your position of power and influence like that is
particularly egregious," says Milkah Kihunah, who monitors peacekeeping
missions for the New York-based Women's International League for Peace and
Freedom. "It's a developmental challenge that falls to the international
community and donors as well as the U.N."
Allegations for Past 15 Years
Over the past 15 years, allegations of sexual abuse have been made against
peacekeepers in each of the U.N.'s peacekeeping missions, including Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Cambodia, Timor-Leste and Liberia.
Tuesday's report argues for applying the principles of Resolution 1325, which
the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted five years ago on Oct. 31, 2000.
That resolution called on U.N. agencies to integrate a gender lens into all of
their activities in order to address the disproportionate impact of armed
conflict on women and to better understand the gender implications of
peacekeepers' work.
Martin suggests more micro-finance and income-generating projects targeted at
women to help alleviate peacekeeping abuse. She said the displaced and refugee
women she spoke to in Liberia and Haiti overwhelmingly ask for assistance in
starting their own businesses.
The U.N.'s own report in March recommended establishing professional
investigative units to pursue allegations of misconduct and collect evidence,
and on-site courts-martial to prosecute soldiers. It also recommended holding
managers and commanders accountable for the behavior of their troops.
Martin, however, questions whether enough human and financial resources will be
allocated to implement those recommendations and says the United Nations has
had difficulty filling key positions to receive and oversee reports of sexual
exploitation and abuse in a timely manner.
New U.N. Measures
The United Nations has instituted a number of new measures to fight abuse in
recent months, according to Anna Shotton of the U.N.'s Department of
Peacekeeping Operations.
In August it announced that eight of its 18 peacekeeping missions would
establish specific units to ensure that all incoming peacekeeping personnel are
trained on what constitutes sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as reinforce
the idea that such behavior is a serious disciplinary offense. They will also
set up systems to receive complaints of abuse, review and verify the facts, and
forward them to the U.N.'s internal investigators.
The U.N. official added that the new conduct and discipline units in the eight
missions--including Liberia, Haiti and Sudan--are at different stages of
recruitment. A number of missions have also set up hotlines and e-mail accounts
to receive complaints.
Units for the 10 remaining missions are planned for 2006.
Martin, however, worries that the United Nations is focusing too much on
conduct and discipline at the expense of putting more women in its ranks.
In 2004 only 4.4 percent of civilian police and 1 percent of military personnel
working in peacekeeping missions were women, and women were only 27.5 percent
of civilian personnel. The report argues that, as a consequence, a "boys will
be boys" mentality toward sexual abuse has evolved in peacekeeping missions.
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom's Kihunah agrees. "The
presence of women in peacekeeping missions makes men adapt their behaviors and
brings a gender perspective to relations with the local community," she said.
Martin cautions that just having more women on missions won't necessarily
prevent sexual misconduct, as the involvement of women in the U.S. military
abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq shows.
She emphasizes that male as well as female peacekeepers need to be concerned
with how women are affected by the mission and by armed conflict in general.
Bojana Stoparic is a freelance writer based in New York.
For more information:
Refugees International-- - Addressing the Sexual Misconduct of Peacekeepers: -
http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/4047
PeaceWomen: - Women's International League for Peace and Freedom: -
http://www.peacewomen.org/un/pkwatch/pkindex.html
Sex-Assault Continues Unchecked in Congo
http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2218/
________________________________________________________________
For any comments about this and any other story, please send a letter to the
editors at http://www.womensenews.org/letters/discus.pl
Copyright 2005 Women's eNews. The information contained in this Women's eNews
report may--with the prior written authorization of Women's eNews--be
published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed. To obtain permission,
send an e-mail to permissions@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and provide the publication or
broadcast date and the name of the newspaper, magazine, radio or television
station, cable network, Web site, newsletter or list serve where it will be
replicated. Please include the approximate size of the audience you intend to
reach.
________________________________________________________________
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