A new UN report issued on Thursday said that efforts to stop UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from sexually abusing the local population have not been effective and it recommended establishing better mechanisms to investigate cases.
“Sexual exploitation and abuse appeared to be ongoing, thereby highlighting the inadequacy of current measures to address the problem in peacekeeping operations,” Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Jordan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, who the UN Secretary had asked to produce the report, said.
Al-Hussein was referring to his mission to the DRC in October 2004, pointing out Bunia, capital of the troubled northeastern district of Ituri, as being where some of the worst abuses were taking place. His report laid out how peacekeeping personnel who commit sexual exploitation and abuse need to be held individually accountable.
