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Accused
Congolese MINUSCA soldiers sit at the Military Tribunal of Kinshasa last month
©Eduardo Soteras (cds/AFP)
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A former number two at
the US Department of Homeland Security is forcing the United Nations to
confront one of the worst crises in its history: sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
AFP
report continues:
Jane
Holl Lute, who also served on the White House's national security council, is
pushing what she describes as a "get-tough agenda" to end a wave of
allegations of child rape and sexual exploitation that has hit UN peacekeeping,
in particular the UN mission in the Central African Republic.
"It
is shocking," she said in an interview on Tuesday.
"The
things that we find ourselves speaking about in the halls of this house that
have gone on in the field: it's stunning."
Lute
was appointed in February as the UN's special coordinator on improving the
response to sexual abuse in peacekeeping, a position created after an
independent panel found the world body had grossly mishandled the cases.
She
has made fact-finding visits to the Central African Republic and the Democratic
Republic of Congo since then and met several times with troop-contributing
countries and UN officials at all levels.
"We
need to create an environment of intolerance for these kinds of actions,"
she said.
Lute's
trip to Bangui and Kinshasa gave her a close-up look at the two missions with
the highest incidence of sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
"There
was a breakdown in command and control for those units," she said of the
many cases in the Central African Republic mission, known as MINUSCA.
There
have been 29 allegations of sexual abuse reported already this year in MINUSCA,
up from 22 in 2015, although most of those date back to previous years.
"We
fully expect that we will uncover more cases," Lute said, promising that
any new incidents will "immediately get the senior-most attention" at
the United Nations.
- Curfews and bed checks-
The
shift in approach involves tightening rules for military and police units
serving in missions to impose non-fraternization rules, curfews and enforcing
bed checks.
Lute,
who held several senior UN peacekeeping positions from 2003 to 2009, said she
has come across "pockets of resistance" from some mission officials
unwilling to take on the new responsibility of preventing sexual abuse.
To
those who deny problems in their missions or organizations, she says,
"Baloney. We all have to worry about it."
Troop-contributing
countries are under pressure to meet deadlines for completing investigations,
setting up joint investigative teams with the United Nations and taking action
to prosecute when allegations found are credible.
Some
are responding.
South
Africa announced it will set up courts-martial in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, where at least seven soldiers face allegations of sexual abuse.
Egypt
recently sentenced one of its soldiers convicted of sexual assault in the
Central African Republic to five years in jail after a 29-day investigation the
United Nations hailed as a record.
Norway
has contributed US$125,000 to a newly created trust fund to provide emergency
assistance to victims, who are being urged to come forward and end their
silence over abuse.
Sri
Lanka has also made a one-time payment to a victim and her child to cover a
paternity claim from a soldier who served in a UN mission in Haiti.
UN
officials are currently considering proposals for mandatory DNA testing and
withholding the wages of peacekeepers facing credible allegations of sex abuse.
"We
have made a lot of progress," Lute said. "We have more to do."
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