Country: Côte D’ivoire
Committee: Security Council
Topic: Abuse by Peacekeepers
Delegate: Jasmine Jacobs
School: Kalamazoo Central High School
There are over 300,000 Peacekeepers all over the world, normally that would be a positive thing. However Peacekeepers are abusing their power, they are forcing women and children to sacrifice their dignity and humility for basic essentials for life survival. The United Nations has deployed Peacekeepers in countries around the world in hopes of saving innocent lives from cruel acts of violence, but the corrupt few are bringing more violence. Over 600 women and children have accused Peacekeepers of sexually abusing them and that’s just the ones the UN knows of.Unfortunately in cote D’ivoire we are not strangers to violence, we have numerous terrorist groups and extreme political tension. Côte d’Ivoire is one of the countries with the largest UN Peacekeeping mission.The United Nations Peacekeepers helped build a more unified country, but they also brought great sorrow. The United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) is taking all possibile action to investigate accusations of sexual abuse and exploitation within its military, some dating back to 2006. The United Nations has a zero tolerance policy, part of the policy bannes all Peacekeepers from having sexual relations with locals they also attend traning seminars for code of conduced.
Peacekeepers have multiple categories like military, police and international civilian, each category has a different immunity level. Peacekeepers use their immunity to get away with heinous and immoral acts, it acts as their shield. Their immunity or “shield” creates an environment where they think it is okay to act in such horrific manors.Some Peacekeepers have functional immunity and some have full immunity. Functional Immunity protects them while they are on duty but does not protect them while off duty.Peacekeepers immunity can be waived which means that the state they are deployed in can investigate, prosecute and punish should the need arise.
Both the UN and the UNOCI are trying to put an end to the stigma that peacekeepers can do whatever they want regardless of who they hurt.The UN investigations the situation before determining if functional immunity applies to the situations, the problem with that is the UN fails to find any or enough evidence, fortunately the UNIFIL decision might put an end to that. The decision would make the UN immediately give the accused to the local police and or authorities.
Cote D’ivoire strongly believes that the UN needs to put an end to the direct abuse of power made by the peacekeepers by letting the country that the accused is currently staying in to have the right to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
- Jasmine Jacobs
