“Feel Safe Tonight: Sleep with a Peacekeeper.” This catchphrase was found on a t-shirt sold in Timor-Leste in 1999. During an 18-month peacekeeping mission in Cambodia in 1992-93, the number of sex workers in the country rose from an estimated 6,000 to over 25,000. In Haiti, so many babies were fathered and abandoned by peacekeepers that they came to be called ‘Petit MINUSTAH,’ referring to the name of the peacekeeping mission. For over 30 years, UN staff and peacekeepers have been implicated in allegations of rape, sex trafficking and offering children and vulnerable adults food, shelter, medicine, or jobs in exchange for sex.
These stories have one thing in common: they are all examples of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). Since 2010, the UN has received over 3,000 allegations of SEA across its development, humanitarian and peacekeeping operations.
We estimate that the majority of cases are never reported. SEA is a severe violation of human rights, one which disproportionately impacts women and girls, but also affects men and boys.
Sexual exploitation and abuse is about the use and abuse of power. In many contexts where the UN operates, conflict, displacement, housing and food insecurity, lack of economic opportunity, and the absence of the rule of law leave people vulnerable to abuse. But most importantly, these circumstances place UN personnel in a position of power. This power can be, and sometimes is, abused.
In response to such allegations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in 2004: “such abhorrent acts are a violation of the fundamental duty of care that all United Nations peacekeeping personnel owe to the local population that they are sent to serve.”
The consequences of SEA are generational and far-reaching. Survivors of SEA can be left with lifelong trauma, psychological harm, and physical injuries, including sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS. In some cases, they are stigmatized and ostracized by their own families and communities; young girls are no longer able to attend school, and women barred from participation in public life. Many children born as a result of sexual exploitation and abuse are condemned to a life of poverty and stigma.
The reverberations of SEA linger long after the guns have fallen silent, the development programs concluded, and the peacekeeping missions drawn down.
History of the mandate
Following reports of widespread sexual misconduct by aid workers and peacekeepers in Bosnia, Cambodia, and West Africa, the Secretary-General issued a 2003 bulletin which introduced the UN’s ‘zero tolerance’ approach to SEA. It clearly outlined prohibited behaviors and assigned responsibilities for preventing and responding to allegations.
Over the next two decades, the UN has continued to update and expand its approach to protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA). In 2016, the Trust Fund in Support of Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and the Office of the Special Coordinator on Improving the UN Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OSCSEA) were established. The role of the Special Coordinator is to ensure a harmonized approach across the Organization, and to strengthen alignment among the humanitarian, development, peacekeeping and political pillars of the United Nations system.
Despite these initiatives, reports of sexual exploitation continued to emerge. In 2017, a new strategy was launched that reoriented UN policy towards ending impunity for perpetrators; coordinating system-wide prevention efforts, including with civil society; and – most importantly – prioritizing the rights and dignity of victims and survivors particularly through the establishment of the mandate of the Victims’ Rights Advocate.
In 2022, Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Christian Saunders as Special Coordinator on Improving the UN Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. Najla Nassif Palma took up the position of Victims’ Rights Advocate in 2024. Together, alongside leaders and PSEA practitioners from across the UN and NGO system, they are working to improve our policies, procedures, and efforts to end impunity, hold perpetrators and leaders accountable, and secure support and justice for survivors of abuse.
Meaningful change, however, will take far more than policies and procedures. Tackling the root cause of sexual exploitation and abuse means unraveling deep-rooted systems of gender inequality, misogyny, and patriarchy. We need to create a culture where abuse of power is not tolerated, and where anyone who comes into contact with the UN feels safe and knows that their right to safety is unconditional.