Additional staff needed to stop sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping – UN report

With a United Nations General Assembly committee having approved a strategy to eliminate future sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is requesting funding to hire the extra employees necessary to ensure compliance with tightened regulations for conduct.

A new report from Mr. Annan to the Assembly says the committee's endorsement of the report prepared by Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein calls for the establishment of Personnel Conduct Units in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) at UN Headquarters and in seven existing missions.

"The Chief of the Unit would make recommendations on how to prevent, identify and respond to misconduct by all categories of mission personnel. The Unit would ensure that the provision of training on United Nations standards of conduct included specific training on sexual exploitation and abuse," he says.

Mr. Annan requested funding to hire 33 of the recommended 63 Personnel Conduct Unit employees from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006.

In the field, the Units would establish mechanisms to receive complaints of misconduct, review and verify facts, forward allegations of misconduct and liaise with Headquarters on the follow-up to investigations.

The missions in the field that would have Units are the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), the UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB), the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).