Participants at a UN high-level meeting on eliminating sexual
exploitation and abuse concluded on Monday after issuing a
statement reiterating a commitment to prevent such acts from
happening in the future.
The conference, which brought together some 100 representatives
from the world body's Department of Peacekeeping Operations, UN
agencies, funds and programs, member states, troop contributing
countries and non-governmental organizations, was aimed at
formulating new strategies for addressing what the UN chief
called "an egregious problem."
The document, entitled the Statement of Commitment on
Eliminating Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN and Non-UN
Personnel, contains 10 commitments to facilitate rapid
implementation of existing UN and non-UN standards relating to the
offences.
These include developing "organization-specific strategies to
prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse," ensuring the
accessibility of complaint mechanisms for reporting sexual abuses,
protecting victims of sexual abuses and taking swift action against
offenders.
In a speech opening the event, Secretary-General Kofi Annan
reiterated his "zero-tolerance" attitude toward acts of sexual
exploitation and abuse committed by UN peacekeeping personnel.
"All of this is utterly immoral, and completely at odds with our
mission," Annan said. "Our behavior should be something that others
can emulate, and be judged against. We are here today to chart a
way for achieving that."
The secretary-general noted that a group of legal experts that
he established has issued a report that proposes an international
convention on strengthening the accountability of UN staff and
related personnel.
He urged discussions and early action from member states in
response to the report.
Since the beginning of 2004, the UN has investigated 319
peacekeeping personnel in all UN missions. These resulted in the
summary dismissal of 18 civilians and the repatriation on
disciplinary grounds of 17 police and 144 military personnel.
During the first 10 months of 2006, 63 percent of all misconduct
allegations involving peacekeeping personnel related to sexual
exploitation and abuse, of which a third were prostitution related,
according to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2006)
