Redress/CRIN report on peacekeepers and child sexual abuse

NGOs Redress and the Child Rights International Network have issued a lengthy report on Litigating Peacekeeper Child Sexual Abuse. Among the recommendations are these for troop contributing countries:

As necessary amend domestic laws and policies to:

• Ensure jurisdiction is asserted over crimes of child sexual abuse committed overseas;
• Amend military and civilian criminal procedures to make them suitable for prosecuting crimes taken place overseas, such as through admitting video evidence from witnesses, instituting onsite court martials, and allowing the use of a commission rogatoire;
• Make prosecution processes, particularly military prosecution processes, sufficiently transparent to enable victims and/or their lawyers to determine the outcome of prosecutions and to participate in the process. Guidance on victims’ rights to information and participation in criminal prosecutions can be drawn from the EU Victims’ Rights Directive and related guidance.
• Publish military codes of conduct, procedures for investigating crimes committed during deployment and details of training provided to troops to ensure that detailed scrutiny is possible and that due recognition can be given when improvements are made.
• Ratify and implement international treaties requiring accountability for peacekeeper child sexual abuse, and sign up for the adjudicative processes under those treaties to ensure such standards are met. Relevant treaties include the CRC, CEDAW, ICCPR and UNCAT.
• Take all necessary measures to ensure access to reparations for all victims of sexual abuse.
• Demonstrate strong political will for holding perpetrators of child sexual abuse to account.

There are also strong recommendations for cognizant UN organs at pp. 82-83.