IV. Sexual exploitation and abuse in peace operations

Chapter:

7. Peace operations and conflict management

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2016

Author(s):

Jaïr van der Lijn

Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in peace operations once again made headline news in 2015. Allegations of SEA of civilians by United Nations peacekeepers have repeatedly surfaced in the international media since the 1990s.¹ The first cases emerged in the UN mission in Cambodia, and there have been allegations from Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Timor-Leste.² These allegations include rape, forced prostitution, ‘rape disguised as prostitution’, sexual abuse of children and paedophilia, trafficking and other forms of sexual violence.³ Allegations of SEA have been made against all types of UN peace operation personnel, both civilian and military.⁴ In spite of the bad publicity and international pressure to resolve the problem, there have been continued, frequent allegations. SEA is not limited to the UN, and personnel in multilateral peace operations deployed by other organizations, alliances and ad hoc coalitions have been similarly accused.⁵ In an attempt to better understand the problem, there have been a small number of theoretical studies on the power and gender implications of peace operations, as well as some larger statistical studies.⁶