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A high-level panel has urged the UN to prosecute peacekeeping troops who
commit sexual offenses, and suggested the organization ban offending nations
from further missions. It follows reports of sexual
misconduct by troops in their areas of deployment.
The 16-member panel, established by UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in October last year, submitted its report to Ban
on Tuesday.
It states that contributing nations must take
disciplinary action against offending troops, adding that they are not immune from
prosecution.
RT.com reports:
“Immunity must not mean impunity,” the panel said
at a news conference, adding that accused parties must immediately cooperate
with the host country.
“This is what has to be very clear: you commit a
barbarity, you have no protection whatsoever,” said panel leader Jose
Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and East Timor’s former president. “You
are subject to the laws of the country where you are operating. You cannot hide
under the United Nations roof.”
The panel also stated those nations whose troops are
responsible for using or sexually abusing children in conflict zones should be
banned from contributing further troops to UN missions. Those countries should
be identified in the secretary-general’s reports, along with the number of
cases that occurred.
It added that female UN staff and human rights experts
should become more involved, reporting regularly on the human rights situation
in each area of deployment.
Meanwhile, victims of such crimes should be assisted
by an “effective and adequately resourced” victim assistance program, the panel
concluded, adding that the UN needs a new deputy secretary-general responsible
for peace and security.
Ramos-Horta said the panel also proposed that UN
member states support and fund a program to assist victims of sexual
exploitation and any children born to them.
The panel supported Ban’s recommendations for a
six-month deadline for sexual abuse investigations and suggested that nations
be required to disclose what disciplinary action had been taken against
offending soldiers, as well as any government failures to report.
The suggestions were made following a seven-month
observation of the UN’s peacekeeping operations.
It comes amid shocking reports that UN peacekeeping
troops have committed sex crimes in their areas of deployment, which Ramos-Horta described as a “dark chapter” that would take “enormous effort
to overcome.”
He added that the sexual misconduct “undermines the
most important power the UN possesses – its unquestionable integrity.”
Last week, a report from the UN Office of Internal
Oversight Services (OIOS) obtained by AP stated that
peacekeepers deployed in Haiti engaged in “transactional” relationships for
food and medicine with 200 women and girls.
In April, a UN report detailed
how French soldiers raped and sodomized starving and homeless boys in the
Central African Republic. Some of the boys were as young as nine. Allegations
of misconduct by peacekeepers from Chad and Equatorial Guinea were also
reported.
The UN has urged countries
involved in the atrocities to beef up their efforts to bring the offenders to
justice.
The
panel’s report wasn’t solely focused on sexual offenses; it also made
recommendations on issues ranging from the use of force by peacekeepers to
funding operations and restructuring the UN Secretariat.
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