The History and Nature of Sexual Misconduct in Peace Operations

Autor: Jasmine-Kim Westendorf
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Violating Peace
DOI: 10.7591/cornell/9781501748059.003.0002
Popis: This chapter traces the history of sexual exploitation and abuse in peace operations globally, including the various forms it takes (only some of which are criminal) and the range of international interveners who perpetrate it. Sexual exploitation and abuse first emerged as an issue in peace operations during the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) in 1993, when the number of prostitutes in the country grew from six thousand before the United Nations arrived to more than twenty-five thousand in 1993. The data available on sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrated by interveners suggests that the range of misconduct is diverse, encompassing opportunistic sexual abuse, transactional sex, networked sexual exploitation, and extremely violent or sadistic attacks. The chapter presents an account of how and why these behaviors occur in peace operations by investigating the local, international, normative, systemic, and structural factors that give rise to them. It also addresses the connections between sexual misconduct by interveners, conflict-related sexual violence perpetrated during wars, and the sexual harassment and abuse that is perpetrated by interveners against their colleagues in peace operations.
Databáze: OpenAIRE