UN to fight sexual exploitation in its corridors

The United Nations has vowed strong measures to end sexual exploitation and abuse within its institutions globally.

The proclamation follows a report released by Secretary-General António Guterres, on Tuesday, covering January 1 to December 31, 2021.

The report noted allegations related to sexual exploitation and abuse levelled against peacekeepers, special political missions, other UN institutions, implementing partners and non-UN international forces authorised by the Security Council mandate.

The United Nations Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Haq, has said all the allegations of sexual exploitation and abuses against the UN staff were not pleasing to the Secretary-General.

He said they would fight hard to curb such practices within the United Nations institutions, partners and other non-governmental organisations.

“Despite clear gains, allegations implicating United Nations personnel continue to emerge,” he said, pointing to the claims implicating UN peacekeeping personnel in the Central African Republic in 2021, which led to the repatriation of a military contingent.

Determined to end

“No one, including the Secretary-General, is pleased with the fact that we still have these cases,” he pledged. 

“We have not let our guard down and we continue working to end impunity and ensure justice for victims.”

In his report on Tuesday, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres pledged to combat sexual exploitation and abuse by enhancing policies, mandatory training, risk assessments, institutionalised action plans and accountability without standing still.

“Five years ago, I committed to a strategy to ‘change the game’ when it came to combating sexual exploitation and abuse,” Secretary-General Guterres stressed in his report.

 “I acknowledge that the organisation has not succeeded in all respects, but neither have we stood still.”

Guterres noted that they were attentive to ditching sexual exploitation and improving how the United Nations deals with it across the globe.

“We must persevere in our efforts to address these wrongs that exist in every society and at every level,” he said.

Guterres’ report

The Secretary-General revealed that 445 allegations were levelled against UN personnel in last year, leading to an increment of a wider margin than in 2020, which had 387 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse blamed on UN workers.

In 2016, the allegations were 165, therefore, there had been a drastic rise in the allegations each year.

The breakdown of the 2021 allegations indicates that 194 reports were said to have emanated from the system. In total, 75 allegations were levelled against peacekeepers, which was higher than the 66 reported allegations in 2020. It was said to be the highest recorded number in 10 years.

The UN institutions recorded 115 allegations, higher than the 109 reported in 2020, with four levelled against UN security forces.

Around 251 complaints were raised against non-UN institutions like non-governmental organisations, which also had a rise from 174 allegations in 2019 to 244 in 2020.

UNMISS mandate renewed

On Monday, UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan for another year till March 15, 2023.

The mandate will revolve around the protection of civilians, creating a conducive environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance, supporting the implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), and monitoring, investigating, and reporting on violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights.

South Sudan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Akuei Bona Malwal, noted that the mandate would see through the transition of the interim period, adding that the international community should reintroduce basic projects and programs to catalyse development.

“We have hope that the new mandate will be dedicated to seeing to a peaceful ending of the interim period by actively engaging the South Sudanese authorities and as long as peace is held by the signatories, the international community should help reintroduce some basic development programs and projects,” Malwal said.

 “The renewal of the mandate is an opportunity for the international community to reengage the government of the Republic of South Sudan, to ensure the smooth and peaceful conclusion of the interim period next year.”