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33 Armed Forces & Soc'y 5 (2006-2007)

handle is hein.journals/amdfcsad33 and id is 1 raw text is: S emied Force & Society Peacekeepers and Prostitutes andeSociety. All ibt, reserved. 101 1 __/005o27X002`,803 How Deployed Forces Fuel the Demand s eatat for Trafficked Women and New Hope http°p for Stopping It Keith J. Allred San Diego, California On numerous occasions in the past fifteen years, U.N. peacekeepers have been accused of sexually assaulting or abusing the populations they serve. A Comprehensive Review of peacekeeper misconduct completed in 2005 identified significant problems and rec- ommended numerous changes to address them. The U.S. Army and NATO, in a response to the possibility that their deployed troops will be engaged in or facilitate human trafficking, have enacted new policies intended to remove their troops from the demand for women trafficked for sexual services. The Department of Defense and NATO initiatives are similar to those being considered by the United Nations for pre- venting sexual misconduct by its peacekeepers. Because the United States, NATO, and the United Nations are all addressing the problems of sexual misconduct by deployed troops, their efforts should be mutually reinforcing. The examples of American and NATO armed forces offer hope that the United Nations will also enact strong measures to prevent future misconduct by its peacekeepers. Keywords: human trafficking; peacekeepers; sexual misconduct In March of last year, Jordanian Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein's Comprehensive Review of allegations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the Congo was released.1 The story had first appeared the previous autumn, when news- paper accounts reported 150 allegations of sexual assault by peacekeepers, including 68 cases of rape, pedophilia, and prostitution.2 Most of the allegations involved peacekeepers from Pakistan, Uruguay, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa, and Nepal.3 The prince's Comprehensive Review found, among other things, that peacekeepers had enticed desperate women and children to engage in sexual acts for a pittance of money or a small piece of food, sometimes giving them money or food after raping them to make the intercourse appear consensual, and that these crimes were wide- spread and ongoing.4 Beyond the sexual crimes, the prince noted a perception that whistleblowers would not be protected5 and described as inexcusable the failure of contingent commanders to cooperate with an investigation.6 These comments may have been toned-down allusions to material contained in an earlier draft of his report. 5 Downloaded from ais sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on November 28, 2012