Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Military Contingents

Book excerpt: In Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Military Contingents: Moving Beyond the Current Status Quo and Responsibility under International law Róisín Burke explores the legal, conceptual and practical difficulties of dealing with sexual offences committed by military contingent personnel deployed on UN peace operations. Some of the inadequacies of current legal frameworks for dealing with such abuses are examined. The book addresses the difficulties with applying international humanitarian law, human rights law and/or international criminal law in this context, and the broader issue of state/international organization responsibility. The book proposes policy options to increase accountability both for perpetrators and for troop contributing nations otherwise indifferent to the crimes of their national contingents.