The recent deployment of Irish defence forces with the United Nations Mission...

The recent deployment of Irish defence forces with the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad has left us with some reflections. Our experience of that deployment was that, by raising awareness of human rights, of the unacceptability of sexual and gender-based violence and of the responsibilities of Government and other parties, the Mission helped to foster a climate in which communities were less likely to tolerate and more likely to report acts of sexual violence. That was certainly a positive lesson that a peacekeeping mission, operating as intended, can raise consciousness and change tolerance standards in communities.