AP: UN Report Offers Rape Prevention Ideas
AP Interview: Ambassador Unveils Peacekeeping Overhaul to Stop Sexual Misconduct
By NICK WADHAMS
The Associated Press
Mar. 24, 2005 - A new United Nations report on sex abuse by peacekeepers describes the U.N. military arm as dysfunctional and recommends requiring nations to pursue legal action against perpetrators, according to the report's author. 
The recommendation for legal action and several others in the report, to be released Thursday, come after repeated accusations that peacekeepers exploited the very people they were sent to protect.
Abuse allegations have dogged peacekeeping missions since they began 50 years ago, but the issue was thrust into the spotlight last year when the United Nations revealed it was pursuing some 150 claims against peacekeepers in Congo including reports that they had sex with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for food or small sums of money.
You cannot understate the value of peacekeeping and what it can bring to a society, so for that reason I think we must restore it, Prince Zeid al Hussein, Jordan's U.N. ambassador and the report's author, told The Associated Press.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Zeid, who once served as a peacekeeper in Bosnia, to study the Congo abuses and propose changes to keep it from happening again.
One of his key tasks was finding ways to hold peacekeepers more accountable in a system where the United Nations has few legal means to take action and those accused of wrongdoing are often sent home and never punished.
The task is especially troublesome because the United Nations does not want to risk offending nations that provide badly needed peacekeepers.
In the last several months, Zeid has discussed his proposals with nations that contribute the most troops such as Pakistan, Morocco, Brazil and Bangladesh and those that fund missions, like the United States.
My feeling is that most of the principal troop contributing countries will agree to this formula, he said.
Zeid described a peacekeeping system that has become fundamentally flawed.
U.N. peacekeeping missions comprise both soldiers and civilians who are held to different standards of conduct, Zeid said. Investigators appointed to probe crimes often don't feel qualified to handle the cases, he said.
And sometimes troops and civilians fail to understand the complexities of the countries where they are deployed.
There are at least some people in peacekeeping who perceive it as almost a form of camping, he said. You can forget how wounded and traumatized the people you're working with are. You can make assumptions that you're entering into a normal, consensual relationship if you're a civilian staff member and often those assumptions may be misguided.
One recommendation of the report is that militaries court martial soldiers accused of wrongdoing in the country where the claims were made. The United Nations could also withhold salaries for peacekeepers found guilty, putting the money in a fund for victims.
Another asks that nations agree to refer cases to national courts for prosecution if a U.N. investigation finds their peacekeepers committed abuse, Zeid said.
Currently, U.N. troops and employees accused of wrongdoing are sent home to be dealt with by their own government but are often never punished.
The report recommends strengthening the United Nations' ability to investigate allegations by giving it access to modern technology like DNA- and fiber-analysis, Zeid said. Investigators would have increased training.
With the United Nations burdened by scandals including oil-for-food and allegations of sexual harassment by staff, officials have sought to deal with the peacekeeper sex abuse issue quickly.
The U.S. Congress is also looking into the issue, and Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., has proposed a bill that would require troop-contributing nations to have codes of conduct in place. Otherwise, the United States would withhold funding for missions.
Zeid set 2007 as a target date to complete many of his proposals.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures