It will be challenging. Just between February 2003 and October 2005 alone, there were 221 cases of sexual misconduct. Impunity was often the outcome. The U.N. peacekeepers are immune from local laws. Some countries don't even have sexual assault laws.
Saturday July 5, 2008, 1:03 pm
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 30 percent of the people who visited brothels were U.N. or NATO staff. In fact, the U.N. police operated brothels there and trafficked people
Saturday July 5, 2008, 5:44 pm
Absolutely WRONG - these are supposedly the people who should be protecting and looking out for others. Unbelievable - is it a case of do what I say not what I do??? Thanx Jon H Blessings.
Saturday July 5, 2008, 10:09 pm
This is one reason why the Human Rights Network is sponsoring the petition to require UN workers be responsible to local tribunals over seen by the ICC.
Here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/56xt66
Sunday July 6, 2008, 5:11 am
This behavior by military and U.N. peacekeepers has been going on for a very long time. As wrong as it is it has always been in one form or another and will always be.
The only way to eradicate this practice is to educate these poverty stricken people so they know what to do......All of those harmed are those who live in fear of their own & now these peace keepers.
Sunday July 6, 2008, 5:58 am
TY Charles & Jon, I have noted. And have seen this before in the news, it's just appalling to see, and very very disturbing.
Sunday July 6, 2008, 11:15 am
Those UN Peacekeepers, for those that commit crimes of rape and abuse against women and children, should be tried in court and sentenced immediately to prison. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior.
Sunday July 6, 2008, 12:55 pm
Childre are one of our most precious jewels and represent the future...when we exploit them for our own needs and abuse them horrifically we damage our chance of a loving world...thanks to all that signed the petition to rally for the innocence and beauty of children and the tenderness of a loving world
Sunday July 6, 2008, 2:08 pm
So sad that troops meant to bring hope instead bring destruction. The first law that needs to be changed is that they cannot be prosecuted....they should be. Unfortunately, the United States military always leaves behind unwanted children, many of whom are murdered by the native people, and not all of them were conceived from love. Not sure there is a solution....thanks, Jon.
Jon wrote: "In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 30 percent of the people who visited brothels were U.N. or NATO staff. In fact, the U.N. police operated brothels there and trafficked people"
I'm not sure I understand the relevance, Jon. Are you saying that because they ran and visited brothels and trafficked people, there was less sexual abuse, particularly of children, in Bosnia and Herzegovina than in African conflict zones? Of course it was the most powerful people in the area who patronized the brothels -- most people couldn't afford to and had to struggle just to get something to eat and to survive.
If you go to the petition site and click on "letter" to view the whole petition, you'll find that it includes the following paragraph:
"If feasible, given the circumstances in each region, provide UN personnel a rotation duty cycle that allows them a safe period to seek out legal forms of relaxation conducive to their religion, country of origin or region of service. Any lack in facilities for such recreation to be provided for under UN supervision in direct connection to UN Posts."
I had signed, cross-posted, and sent the petition along to friends before I noticed that paragraph, but on closer reading it appeared to me that the "recreational facilities" it called upon the UN to provide for the peacekeepers, could include brothels. When I asked about it, I was directed to a discussion topic where I learned that before it had been rewritten, the original suggestion for that paragraph has specifically called for brothels.
While I believe that there should be ICC jurisdiction and accountability for anyone who abuses children, including peacekeepers, I don't see how providing them with recreational facilities of any sort, whether or not such facilities include brothels, would stop them from abusing children or even take away their excuse for abusing children. While some have claimed that it was their lack of access to their own culture that caused them to abuse children, others who have been convicted of similar crimes, such as European government officials in many countries, or priests and high level Vatican officials in the U.S. and elsewhere, had no such alibi.
I stopped promoting the petition when I realized that it could be interpreted (particularly by those UN peacekeepers who are already in the habit of operating or frequenting brothels) as calling for brothels, because I don't believe that having brothels or recreational facilities in any conflict zone has ever been proven to decrease the rate of violence and child abuse, and because for the cost of putting a safe-sex, non-exploitive, well-regulated brothel in a conflict zone, you could easily set up another sorely needed refugee camp or a field hospital, which I believe would do a lot more good.
I see no point in catering to the perpetrators and I think that anyone who believes their lame excuses is a fool. There is no excuse for harming children.
The abuses are abuses of power. Power corrupts. There should be checks on power wherever possible. But providing abusers with recreational facilities, even ones as harmless as soccer balls or religious texts, no less more outlets for their sexual gratification when they already have too many, seems to me to be ignoring, if not spitting on the victims, and seeing things only from the perspective of and with deference to the perpetrators.
I believe that the perpetrators need to be regulated, held accountable, and punished, not catered to in any way.
Remember that the peacekeepers in African conflict zones already have much better rotational tours of duty and working conditions than the child soldiers in those areas, who are nothing more than slaves. Child soldiers are usually abducted. Peacekeepers volunteer. Unlike child soldiers are never sent home for R&R or complete their tours of duty. Child soldiers are often forced at gunpoint to commit murders, rapes, and other atrocities. Nobody is forcing the peacekeepers to commit atrocities, they do it because they choose to of their own free will.
ICC jurisdiction might provide some accountability that could hold peacekeepers responsible (but not prevent) their abuses, but providing them with recretional facilities will not stop them from kidnapping children and selling them to warlords to be child soldiers, or raping them and then selling them as sex slaves. These abuses are common to many groups in such areas, but I have seen no suggestions from anyone that providing shorter tours of duty in conflict zones or better recreational facilities might stop Hutus from killing Tutsis or take away their excuse for doing so.
I do not believe that this petition was well thought out, I apologize for having promoted it before I realized that, and I will no longer promote it.
Even if the paragraph calling for recreation facilities is deleted, the fact that it was ever included in the first place casts grave doubt on the credibility of the petition sponsors, just as my own failure to examine the petition closely casts grave doubt upon my own judgment. I am human, I make mistakes at times, and I hope I am mature enough to admit when I do and to apologize. I believe that this was one of those times when I made a serious error of judgment and I apologize.
I also apologize for the typos. I am angry that such a worthy cause would be treated so cavalierly by the sponsors, and that I was taken in by it.
It is not uncommon in the U.S. legislative process for a bill to be introduced in Congress that has a very worthy purpose, but for a rider to be inserted into the bill that has an evil purpose. I should have carefully examined every line of that petition before sending it on, and it is my fault for not doing so. I also should have verified the credibility of the sponsors, and if they lacked credibility, or their credibility could only be verified by other Care2 members whose own credibility can not be verified, I should have become more suspicious immediate. A cause this worthy and inflammatory can lead the unwary to drop their guard, and I did.
Once more, and forever if necessary, I apologize. I cared about the kids, and because I cared about the kids I was lured into signing and promoting a petition that was, at least in part, designed to lend credibility to and give comfort to the abusers. I'm sorry.
Sunday July 6, 2008, 3:55 pm
I think these behaviors are fundamental consequences of unequal power and hence abuse of people who have been made particularly vulnerable by people who already use power in sociopathic and predatory ways. I have to agree simply giving them additional "safe recreational opportunities" does not in any way resolve the very real issues that led to the abuse in the first place.
Thanks for letting us know this, Mark. I, too, heavily promoted the petition, after reading only the body of it -- not realizing that separate conditions were contained in the letter.
For those who have already signed, who now wish to change their minds, you should be aware that you can revisit the petition and click on the "Sponsors," where you will be directed to an email address. You have the right to request that they remove your name.
Sunday July 6, 2008, 5:26 pm
The ACTUAL header in this Korean publication is: UN-believable [opinion] Sexual misconduct by U.N. Peacekeepers...Note the difference?...
I have signed the petition via link submitted by Nemo. Thank you Nemo... http://tinyurl.com/56xt66
Sunday July 6, 2008, 5:50 pm
Oooops! thank you also Jon and Mark..(Nemo, somehow, managed to drop a 'live' link. Too convenient) but then again there is mention of 'LEGAL forms of relaxation' in that paragraph...Does this constitute trafficing or children?
David, in many countries prostitution is legal, and in some countries there are no laws against child molestation. And of course in conflict zones there may be no such thing as enforceable laws.
Since I donate money to UNICEF and UNHCR, I would not want my money going to fund brothels for UN peacekeepers, and if it went for other types of recreational facilities, I would hope they would be for the benefit of the children and the refugees, not for the peacekeepers. If I wanted to help the peacekeepers, I'd look for a Peacekeepers Benevolent Association to donate to. I prefer to help the kids and the victims, rather than the abusers and the authorities, and the case the latter seem to be one and the same.
To put it more bluntly, if the peacekeepers need or want soccer balls or pogo sticks, I think their respective countries should provide them, not the UN.
If the peacekeepers need or want religious texts like Bibles or Korans, I think their religious denominations should provide them, not the UN.
And if the peacekeepers need or want brothels, or if somebody thinks that providing them with brothels would take away their excuse for raping kids, I think that person should reach into their own pockets and provide them, or take up a collection among the peacekeepers, because I'm low income, I'm not not even in the habit of paying for sex for myself, and I'm dammed sure not going to pay for it for somebody else.
Mark, first of all, I want to say that I feel very badly about this turn of events. As you know, I promoted this petition with blogs at Google, MySpace, a Care2 share, and sent it to over 350 Care2 friends. My friends trust me and my advice, so I feel that I have let them down.
As for removing your signature, of course, I suggest that you keep the copy of your email to the sponsor(s) that was forwarded to you, and check the petition within a few days to assure that your signature was, in fact, removed.
Care2 runs the Petition Site, so should your request not be acknowledged, I would suggest you copy them with your confirming email and protest.
