Not enough has been done to prevent the recurrence of child sexual abuse by the United Nations peacekeepers. Another scandal cannot be tolerated and abuse must stop.

Today we launch a strategy setting out what it would take to fight the impunity for child sexual exploitation and abuse committed by UN peacekeepers.

Sexual exploitation and abuse of children by UN peacekeepers is a long-standing, widespread, and continuing problem. Complaints first emerged in the 1990s and have been made against military, police and civilian personnel of UN peacekeeping missions across many countries.

Between 2004 and 2016 more than 300 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse involving children were recorded globally. Since 2017, 117 further allegations involving children have come to light. Practitioners believe the actual numbers to be significantly higher.

What has happened so far

In 2014, the mishandling of abuse cases by UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, and the attempts to conceal allegations from the public, sparked significant concerns regarding the UN's transparency in its handling of the problem. 

The scandal precipitated a series of UN initiatives, including the appointment of a full-time Special Coordinator to improve the UN response to sexual exploitation and abuse, the establishment of a Victims' Rights Advocate and a Trust Fund for victims, enhanced prevention measures, as well as reforms in vetting and training of UN personnel.

No sign of major reform

Unfortunately, not much has changed as a result of the recent institutional reforms and initiatives, and abuse continues. In June this year, the UN ordered to remove the whole unit of Tanzanian peacekeepers from the Central African Republic over allegations of widespread sexual abuse, including of children. 

Despite the introduction of a victim-centred approach, there is still a chronic under-reporting of sexual exploitation and abuse by survivors, particularly children. The near total impunity for UN peacekeeping personnel involved in these crimes leaves victims without any form of redress.

The main challenges to accountability for child sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers include legal and political barriers within the UN system and in countries supplying the troops to UN peacekeeping missions (troop-contributing countries) such as:

• The UN has no jurisdiction to prosecute either peacekeeping troops provided by UN Member States - they can only be prosecuted for crimes committed on duty by their own State. 

• A persistent lack of political will in troop-contributing countries to pursue investigations. This has meant that very few individuals alleged to have committed abuse, exploitation, or mishandling cases have been successfully prosecuted. 

• Major shortcomings in investigative processes both at the UN level and within troop-contributing countries.   

Proposing a new approach

Child sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers must end. A few years ago CRIN embarked on a project to analyse the reasons for this persistent impunity and how it could be addressed in order to tackle it. Our research has shown that, with the exception of long-term campaigns by a few dedicated organisations, most actions have been isolated and short-term, generally driven by global outrage following each new public allegation.

Drawing from these findings, we have devised a strategy aimed at fostering advocacy for systemic policy reforms at the UN and troop-contributing country levels, with the ultimate goal of establishing accountability for child sexual abuse committed by UN peacekeepers. Our proposed strategy includes two key approaches to combat impunity: the establishment of a global coalition focused on accountability for child sexual exploitation and abuse, and the pursuit of strategic litigation to ensure access to justice for survivors. It aims to bring together existing actors and initiatives to create sustained pressure for meaningful change.

The mishandling of abuse cases by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic did not trigger the reform necessary to end sexual abuse of children within peacekeeping missions. Without action now, abuse and impunity will only continue.

Learn more about our work on combatting child sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers.