DRC: New report on sexual abuse by UN staff

In early 2004, media reports emerged alleging that UN peacekeepers in the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) were involved in the sexual exploitation and abuse of Congolese girls in Bunia, in the Ituri District in the north-east of the DRC. After carrying out a number of internal investigations, MONUC and the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) requested the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) to investigate the allegations. The OIOS report, which has just been released, is based on a three-month investigation from June to September 2004. One of its recommendations suggests that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations consider a wider application of prevention and detection policies to protect against sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers. This may include the designation of local officials or nongovernmental organizations to receive reports of sexual exploitation and abuse; the central reporting of all cases to mission senior management on an expedited basis; the development of mission-based rapid-response teams; the development of educational programmes for the troops on their responsibilities and on sanctions for sexual exploitation and abuse; the public naming and shaming of those found to have engaged in sexual exploitation and abuse; and the permanent exclusion from peacekeeping missions of those troops who engage in sexual exploitation and abuse and of their contingents' commanders.