NEW YORK — The United Nations said yesterday it would redouble efforts to stop its peacekeeping troops from sexually abusing people they are supposed to protect.
“Standards have to be enforced again and again and again,” said Jane Holl Lute, acting head of the newly created office of U.N. Field Support Services.
“When one person misbehaves it threatens all of us and I for one am tired of the few tarnishing the reputation of the many,” she told reporters.
Charges last week that a Moroccan contingent of U.N. peacekeepers in the Ivory Coast sexually exploited women and girls marked the latest of an estimated 874 investigations of sexual misconduct against U.N. peacekeepers in recent years.
The United Nations separated the 760 Moroccans from the rest of the Ivory Coast peacekeeping mission, and severely curtailed their activities until the latest investigations are complete.
A preliminary report released last week suggested the Moroccans who arrived in the impoverished African nation just six weeks ago inherited a well-established machine to exploit girls as young as 13 with offers of food or other commodities.
Peacekeeping officials suspect the practice has been handed forward from one rotation to the next for the past two to three years.
Mrs. Lute said she expected to meet with officials from major troop-contributing countries today.
U.N. peacekeepers have been accused of sexual exploitation, trafficking of natural resources and otherwise abusing their position as protectors of war-ravaged and desperate populations.
Of 436 investigations that have been completed, in 209 cases, charges were unsubstantiated or the U.N. employee was cleared, while 197 persons were sent home, dismissed or their contracts not renewed. Another 18 were reprimanded and 12 suspended.
Whole contingents of Nigerian police and Ukrainian soldiers have been returned home to face prosecution after investigations in other countries.
The United Nations can investigate misconduct by peacekeepers in the field, but it cannot prosecute.
Instead, international soldiers, police and civilian staff are repatriated to face justice in their home countries.
Often, Mrs. Lute noted, the United Nations organization cannot even find out how a case was disposed.
In each of 19 peacekeeping missions, Mrs. Lute’s office has initiated sexual-conduct education for soldiers and established confidential complaint lines, curfews and no-go areas for U.N. employees.
It has also prohibited visits to prostitutes and restricted off-duty contact with villagers.
A second report on the Moroccans in Ivory Coast is due next week from the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services, Mrs. Lute said.
A Moroccan delegation is also investigating.
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