Sex
Abuse
by UN
Peacekeepers
in Cote
d'Ivoire &
Haiti Raised
to UN
Expert
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 10 --
When the UN's
Special
Rapporteur on
Violence
against Women
Rashida Manjoo
took questions
from the media
on Monday,
a list of nine
bullet points
from her
report was
handed to
reporters.
None of the
nine points
concerned her
report's
comment on the
UN:
"Abuses
against
women and
girls have
also been
committed by
international
personnel
deployed in
United Nations
peace
operations."
[Paragraph
44]
Inner
City Press
asked Manjoo
about this
line, and
whether she
thought the UN
under
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon does
enough, given
that it does
not
prosecute
peacekeepers
accused of
sexual abuse
but only sends
them
home.
Manjoo's
response
included a
reference to
sex for food
and to what
the UN calls
its
"zero
tolerance"
policy, of "no
impunity." But
when it was
said that a
final question
would be
allowed, Inner
City
Press asked
about a
specific case
revealed only
in a
Wiki-leaked
cable, that of
16 Beninois
peacekeepers
charged with
buying sex
with
underaged
girls in
exchange for
food then
merely sent
back to Benin.
The
UN has
refused to say
what if
anything ever
happened to
those charged.
Lack of
accountability
has escalated,
including in
the past month
with incoming
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous named
but not in
place while
sex abuse
scandals
exploded in
Haiti's
MINUSTAH
mission.
Manjoo
acknowledged
that often
cases are not
followed up,
and said that
such
a complaint
could be
submitted to
her office and
she would
inquire.
Manjoo
& Ban
Ki-moon,
answers on sex
abuse by DPKO
not yet shown
Less than an
hour after the
briefing,
Inner City
Press
submitted
information
about this and
another Cote
d'Ivoire case,
and that of
the Sri Lankan
peacekeepers
repatriated
from Haiti's
MINUSTAH
mission
after charges
of underaged
sex to
Manjoo's
colleague
Katarina
Mansson,
Associate
Expert in the
Human Rights
Treaties
Branch of the
Office of the
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights in
Geneva, asking
for inquiry
and updates.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Inner
City Press
also asked
Manjour about
the processing
of rape
charges
against former
IMF managing
director
Dominique
Strauss Kahn,
who is now
citing his UN
system
immunity to
try to defeat
the alleged
victim's
litigation.
Manjour
declined to
give her
views, but
CEDAW
chairperson
Silvia
Pimentel
responded by
referring to a
book she has
writing about
rape and
double
standards. We
will have more
on this.
, 
