Allegations hang over UN meeting on sex abuse
UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said sexual abuse is a problem that goes beyond peacekeeping missions and plagues the entire United Nations, pledging Monday to root out the problem “once and for all.”
The leaders of 57 countries joined a group established by Guterres to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation, the centerpiece of a high-level meeting to showcase the world body’s commitment to fighting a scourge that has darkened the reputation of peacekeeping missions around the world.
They included many of the countries whose military personnel have been accused of sex crimes while serving on U.N. peacekeeping missions. Some of the nations have yet to punish any alleged perpetrators.
“We are here to take bold, urgent and much-needed action to root out sexual exploitation and abuse once and for all in the United Nations,” Guterres said.
The Associated Press launched an investigative series in March on the U.N’s peacekeeping crisis, uncovering roughly 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation during a 12-year period. Most of the allegations were against peacekeepers, but other U.N. agencies were also involved.
Guterres said he has “been haunted by my many encounters with women and children scarred by sexual violence and further stigmatized sometimes by their own communities.”
He stressed that “sexual exploitation and abuse is not a problem of peacekeeping, it is a problem of the entire United Nations.”
“We cannot allow the unspeakable acts of a few to tarnish the work of thousands of men and women who uphold the values of the United Nations Charter, often at great personal risk and sacrifice,” Guterres said.
In March, the secretarygeneral announced new measures to tackle the problem, including a new focus on victims and bans on alcohol and fraternization for troops.