1 Reflections on 20-Plus Years of Protection from SEA Work
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Sarah Martin
Abstract
In 2005, in the author’s report Must Boys Be Boys? Ending Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in UN Peacekeeping, she quoted Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the then head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in the United Nations (UN). He said: ‘If we fail … to approve decisive and visible steps to limit sexual abuse in UN peacekeeping, then it will have serious implications for the future of peacekeeping.’ While writing the report, which laid out her findings about the widespread problem of peacekeepers sexually abusing women and children in UN peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Haiti, Martin hoped that it would generate attention and make the UN take the problem seriously and address the ‘code of conduct’ violations that were rife among the troops. In the years since, however, the political will to address the root problems that underpin the perpetration of sexual exploitation and abuse has been missing. Martin reflects on the 20 plus years she has spent working for humanitarian NGOs and UN agencies, and the evolution of the response in that time. Using personal experiences in the sector, she argues that a central challenge is conservative patriarchal cultures in peacekeeping and humanitarian organizations, which turn a blind eye to rampant abuses of power involving men who sexually harass and harm women – their co-workers, job applicants, patients, employees of other agencies, fellow refugees and vulnerable beneficiaries – preferring to sanction the whistle-blowers than remove the perpetrator or change the status quo. She suggests that efforts to deal with this culture are limited and, with few exceptions, tend to occur in a flurry in the aftermath of a media scandal, making cosmetic changes rather than addressing the issues in a systematic, concerted way that confronts the underlying power imbalances at play.
Abstract
In 2005, in the author’s report Must Boys Be Boys? Ending Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in UN Peacekeeping, she quoted Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the then head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in the United Nations (UN). He said: ‘If we fail … to approve decisive and visible steps to limit sexual abuse in UN peacekeeping, then it will have serious implications for the future of peacekeeping.’ While writing the report, which laid out her findings about the widespread problem of peacekeepers sexually abusing women and children in UN peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Haiti, Martin hoped that it would generate attention and make the UN take the problem seriously and address the ‘code of conduct’ violations that were rife among the troops. In the years since, however, the political will to address the root problems that underpin the perpetration of sexual exploitation and abuse has been missing. Martin reflects on the 20 plus years she has spent working for humanitarian NGOs and UN agencies, and the evolution of the response in that time. Using personal experiences in the sector, she argues that a central challenge is conservative patriarchal cultures in peacekeeping and humanitarian organizations, which turn a blind eye to rampant abuses of power involving men who sexually harass and harm women – their co-workers, job applicants, patients, employees of other agencies, fellow refugees and vulnerable beneficiaries – preferring to sanction the whistle-blowers than remove the perpetrator or change the status quo. She suggests that efforts to deal with this culture are limited and, with few exceptions, tend to occur in a flurry in the aftermath of a media scandal, making cosmetic changes rather than addressing the issues in a systematic, concerted way that confronts the underlying power imbalances at play.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of Figures and Tables v
- List of Abbreviations vi
- Notes on Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xiv
- Introduction: Two Decades of Dealing with Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Peacekeeping and Aid 1
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Where We’ve Been: The Origins and Scope of Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
- Reflections on 20-Plus Years of Protection from SEA Work 19
- United Nations Police as a Double-Edged Sword for SEA Accountability 34
- Victims’ Rights and Remedial Action 46
- Sexual Violence against Peacekeepers and Aid Workers 62
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How It’s Going: Implementing and Institutionalizing Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
- Missing the Mark in PSEA 79
- The Imperative of Prioritizing Victims’ Rights 93
- United Nations Victims’ Rights Statement 108
- Accountability Advocates: Representing Victims 114
- Masculinities and Institutional Blind Spots 130
- Power, Consent and Peacekeeping Economies 143
- Gender, Race, Sexuality and PSEA 156
- ‘We Don’t Have a Word for That’: Issues in Translating PSEA Communication 169
- From ‘Cultural Sensitivity’ to ‘Structural Sensitivity’ 184
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Looking Forward: Where to from Here?
- Agency and Affect in PSEA: Understanding Agency through a Transnational Intersectional Lens 195
- Empowered Aid: Transforming Gender and Power Dynamics in the Distribution of Humanitarian Aid 207
- Rethinking PSEA: Reflections for Policy Makers 221
- Notes 226
- Index 231
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of Figures and Tables v
- List of Abbreviations vi
- Notes on Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xiv
- Introduction: Two Decades of Dealing with Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Peacekeeping and Aid 1
-
Where We’ve Been: The Origins and Scope of Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
- Reflections on 20-Plus Years of Protection from SEA Work 19
- United Nations Police as a Double-Edged Sword for SEA Accountability 34
- Victims’ Rights and Remedial Action 46
- Sexual Violence against Peacekeepers and Aid Workers 62
-
How It’s Going: Implementing and Institutionalizing Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
- Missing the Mark in PSEA 79
- The Imperative of Prioritizing Victims’ Rights 93
- United Nations Victims’ Rights Statement 108
- Accountability Advocates: Representing Victims 114
- Masculinities and Institutional Blind Spots 130
- Power, Consent and Peacekeeping Economies 143
- Gender, Race, Sexuality and PSEA 156
- ‘We Don’t Have a Word for That’: Issues in Translating PSEA Communication 169
- From ‘Cultural Sensitivity’ to ‘Structural Sensitivity’ 184
-
Looking Forward: Where to from Here?
- Agency and Affect in PSEA: Understanding Agency through a Transnational Intersectional Lens 195
- Empowered Aid: Transforming Gender and Power Dynamics in the Distribution of Humanitarian Aid 207
- Rethinking PSEA: Reflections for Policy Makers 221
- Notes 226
- Index 231
