Sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers - PeaceWomen

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Carlyn van der Mark
Political Science Master Thesis - Sexual exploitation and UN peacekeepers
is dependent on proxy measurements. Despite not being able to find concrete measurements,
it is still significant to consider accountability and implementation of legal provisions as a
failure of the zero tolerance policy. The failure of the zero tolerance policy is dependent on
troop contributing countries enforcing a zero tolerance in their legal system. This section has
highlighted through table 5 that the U.N the domestic government do not always align with
regards to standards of consent of sex and prostitution. The un-clarity of what is allowed and
what isn‟t can account for feelings of impunity by peacekeepers. Hence, the zero tolerance
policy fails in creating a strong enforcement body against allegations of sexual exploitation
and abuse as well as enforcement of age of consent and legality of prostitution.
Section Three: Looking at the social status of women and indicators of poverty as
determining factors for sexual exploitation and abuse
In understanding which factors cause for the failure of the zero tolerance policy one needs to
understand the domestic context within which acts of sexual exploitation and abuse occur.
The previous sections have elaborated on the strategies to combat social masculinities and
focused on the legal aspects in the failure of the zero tolerance policy. This section will now
explore why transactional sex, otherwise known as survival sex, occurs by incorporating a
women‟s perspective. By using a liberal feminist approach, unequal social factors will be
highlighted that cause for some women and young teenage girls to be involved with forms of
transactional sex with U.N peacekeepers. The indicators that is used to highlight the unequal
social factors are the Gender Inequality index and Multi-dimensional Poverty index.
Hypothesis III shall be tested in this section. Hypothesis III indicates that the more emphasis
that is placed within the domestic community of the peacekeeping mission, then the greater
the decrease in sexual exploitation and abuse.
This section will be split into three parts. The first will indicate the social circumstances in
the DRC and Haiti context. The second section will highlight the importance of recognizing
the social and economic context in preventing future allegations of sexual exploitation and
abuse. Lastly, the third section will see how the zero tolerance policy comprehends
environmental factors that cause for circumstances of sexual exploitation and abuse.
3.1 Gender inequality and Poverty index
The table below uses data collected from the Gender Inequality Index along with the Multi-
Dimensional Index. The data is used to highlight the social circumstances within the DRC