Saturday, August 22, 2015

UN peacekeeper misconduct in Central African Republic

The New York Times reports here on the status of misconduct cases involving UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic. "Nine of the 13 cases reported in the past year involved children as young as 11 and that no one had yet been convicted."
"The scandal has touched a nerve at the United Nations, where the accountability of peacekeepers has long been an underlying issue. Responsibility for prosecutions rests with the member states that contribute the troops, but the United Nations has little leverage to ensure compliance. 
"The peacekeeping mission, composed of more than 12,800 uniformed personnel from more than two dozen member states of the United Nations, has been the main security force for the past year in the Central African Republic, one of Africa’s poorest and most chaotic countries." [Emphasis added.]
Memo to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: mightn't it be easier to monitor troop contingent personnel misconduct and related disciplinary proceedings if there weren't so many troop contributing states involved in a single UN peacekeeping mission?

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