Peacekeeping

We strongly believe that preventing sexual exploitation and abuse by the peacekeepers should be an absolute priority, with zero tolerance for such offences. Peacekeeping missions must include protecting civilians, especially women and girls, as a fundamental element in their mandates, including greater recruitment of women military and police officers.

We must ensure that peacekeeping operations have the necessary capacity to implement their mandates. Protecting women is not optional; it is an absolute necessity that must be firmly anchored at the centre of operations. In that regard, the posts of gender advisers and women’s protection advisers are crucial and must be preserved.

The Council should also continue to attach the utmost importance to preventing and addressing the root causes of conflict. Furthermore, measures aimed at reducing the vulnerabilities of civilians, including by enhancing the capacity of peacekeeping missions, as well as the Council’s using all the available tools at its disposal, will be critical.

The United Nations also has a role to play in countering violence against women in the field through our peacekeeping missions. Women talk to each other, and, more importantly, they understand each other. We should capitalize on this fundamental truth and do a better job of recruiting and including more women in peacekeeping. Unfortunately, only 4 per cent of uniformed peacekeepers are women.

We wish to underscore the responsibilities that armed forces and peacekeeping operations have in preventing sexual violence in conflict. It is important not only to ensure training in international humanitarian and human rights law in the specific context of sexual exploitation, but also establish strict monitoring and accountability within these systems to prevent abuse by these actors themselves.

Reports on sexual exploitation and abuse by personnel in UN peacekeeping missions, both military and civilian, in recent years have increasingly tainted the reputation of the UN and undermined its credibility. Austria condemns such behaviour and welcomes the focus of the Secretary-General on this important issue and his initiatives in this regard.

Mexico joined the Secretary General’s Voluntary Compact to prevent and address sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel in the field. In this regard, we must remember that the privileges and immunities of the UN cannot and should not be understood as a trait to act impunity.

While the report looks primarily at sexual violence inflicted by armed groups and state actors, we cannot ignore cases of sexual exploitation and abuse or sexual harassment committed by those working for, or associated with the United Nations. The Kingdom of the Netherlands reaffirms its total commitment to the UN’s zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse and on sexual harassment.