New Solutions

Tackling Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children by

Peacekeepers and Aid Workers

Corinna Csaky & Bill Bell, 22 May 2008

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Abuse ‘The men call to me in the streets and they

ask me to go with them. But I don’t go. They do this with all of us young girls. I have a few friends that have gone to bed with them. Some of them are asked to give a lesbian show and they are paid for that’

‘Sometimes they ask us to find them girls. They especially ask for girls of our age (14 years). Often it will be between eight and ten men who will share two or three girls’ ]

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Victims ‘The girls are orphans. They don’t have a mother or

father. If they think the abuse can help them they will go and try to do these things to get food’

‘In our community we used to protect separated children. But now those that are alone are very vulnerable’

‘This happens especially to orphans. An orphan cannot say anything against her abuser because she has nothing’

“We have never heard of anyone reporting the cases of abuse.”

FEAR

“He’s using the girl, but without him she won’t be able to eat.”

“Your name will be ruined.”

“No one would go to the organisation – not even the local leader, as he is scared of them kicking him out of the village.”

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POWERLESSNESS“All these things, if they happened, we would not have the power to talk about them.”

“How will we even get in to see the managers?”

“Who would we tell? We wouldn’t tell the police… they can’t do anything. Anyway, I’ve heard that the police do this kind of abuse too.”

“Some cases of abuse are reported and the fact that nothing happens can put people off coming forward.”

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LACK OF RESPONSE

“Many UN agencies and NGOs working here feel they cannot be touched by anyone.”

“The people who are raping us and the people in the office are the same people.”

“They go walking around in the same areas every day and they don’t even hide what they are doing… they just go and look for young girls every night. They use the hotel across from them and the school next to the camp.”

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WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE?

• Children and communities need to be supported to speak out

• Greater accountability all along the chain of management

• More investment in tackling the root causes of abuse

1 Effective Complaints Mechanisms

A routine part of every emergency response

A core function of the UN Country Senior Management Team with an SEA Coordinator

One unified UN-NGO mechanism to receive complaints and ensure they are followed-up effectively

Designed and implemented in collaboration with NGOs, local partners and children

Compliant with international standards

Requiring additional earmarked donor funding

2 Global Watchdog A proven method of inspiring quality

To monitor and evaluate UN and NGO efforts at international and national levels in line with agreed performance standards

Small independent team at the international level plus national level representation

Generate progress reports for the existing UN-NGO Task Force and for the UN Secretary General

Based upon a new level of transparency and collaboration

Supported by new donor funding

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3 Investing in Child Protection

A child protection system is the most effective and sustainable way to prevent and respond to abuse

Widely endorsed as being relevant for both emergency and development settings

It is made up of services (E.g. fostering and adoption of orphans, reintegration of child soldiers into their communities)

And structures (E.g. legal and policy reform and administrative representation)

Require urgent investment by governments, donors and financial institutions

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1.More effective local complaints mechanisms

2.A new Global Watchdog to monitor and evaluate efforts to tackle abuse

3.Greater prioritisation given to tackling the root causes or drivers of abuse

New Solutions