UN Security Council Adopts Resolution Addressing Sexual Abuse by Peacekeepers (March 11, 2016) [1]
On March 11, 2016, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution [3] addressing sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers. The Security Council “express[ed] deep concern about the serious and continuous allegations and under-reporting of sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers and non-United Nations forces, including military, civilian and police personnel” and “stress[ed] that sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers undermines the implementation of peacekeeping mandates, as well as the credibility of United Nations peacekeeping.” It further reaffirmed that troop-contributing countries have the “primary responsibility . . . to investigate allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by their personnel and of troop- and police-contributing countries to hold accountable, including through prosecution.” The Council called on member states to “take adequate measures to prevent and combat impunity for sexual exploitation and abuse” and “to strengthen . . . pre-deployment training.” The resolution tasks the Secretary-General with monitoring to ensure that troop-contributing countries “take . . . the appropriate steps to investigate, hold accountable and inform him of the progress of its investigations when determining whether that Member State should participate in other current or future United Nations peacekeeping operations.” The Council further requested that the Secretary-General “gather and preserve evidence ahead of investigations of sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations peace operations with due consideration for the safety, security and confidentiality of victims” and “to ensure that the concerned United Nations peace operation takes immediate steps to prevent, including through risk assessments, future incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse, to strengthen the accessibility, coordination and independence of processes for complaint receipt and management and to assist victims.”