UN peacekeepers fueling trafficking in women, UN expert warns

Radhika Coomaraswamy also underlined during a news briefing that cases of direct violence against women by peacekeepers had taken place although she said the number was not high.

Increasingly, however, she said there was a trafficking problem.

In her earlier address to the UN Human Rights Commission, she referred to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo where she said there had been reports of a “vast increase in trafficking activity”.

“It is absolutely essential that all UN forces are held to the same standards of international human rights law as are nation states,” Coomaraswamy told delegates of the 53-member forum.

“To do otherwise creates a climate of impunity in which offences profilerate,” she added.

The UN’s code of conduct for peacekeepers was not enough alone, Coomaraswamy said, calling for the introduction of awareness training for peacekeepers as an integral part of their training before being deployed.

“Now especially where UN is running administrations such as in Kosovo and East Timor we feel it’s absolutely essential that some kind of structure be in place to deal with these kinds of issues,” she told reporters.

kjm/jlv/sas AFP

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BD: East Timorese Women's Issues - A collection of recent information, petitions, articles and news