[JURIST] According to an unreleased report obtained by the Associated Press [official website], some members of a UN peacekeeping [official website] mission engaged in sexual exploitation with more than 200 Haitian women, telling them that they had to in order to obtain necessary food and medication. Many see this as a sign that sexual exploitation consistently goes unreported during such missions. The draft of the report, authored by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) [official website] and expected to be released next month, examines how these UN peacekeeping missions deal with the constant problem of sexual exploitation. The report states, among other findings, that about a third of alleged abuse involves minors under the age of 18, assistance to victims is severely deficient, and there is a widespread confusion of the difference between consent and exploitation. Investigators from the OIOS interviewed more than 230 Haitian women last year who stated that they had engaged in “transactional sex” with UN peacekeepers for necessary items or services. “In cases of non-payment, some women withheld the badges of peacekeepers and threatened to reveal their infidelity via social media,” the report says [AP report]. “Only seven interviewees knew about the United Nations policy prohibiting sexual exploitation and abuse.”

Sexual exploitation continues to be a major problem throughout the world. An investigation [JURIST commentary] by the International Labour Organization (ILO) [official website] found that about $99 billion in illicit profits can be attributed to sexual exploitation around the world, affecting approximately 4.5 million victims. Earlier this month UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced [JURIST report] that in light of allegations of sexual abuse in the Central African Republic (CAR) by foreign troops not under UN control, an External Independent Review will be set up to examine the UN’s handling of such allegations. In May the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, called on several states to investigate allegations [JURIST report] that members of their peacekeeping forces sent to the CAR have committed serious human rights violations, including sexual exploitation of women and children. The problem extends to the US as well. In June 2010 the US State Department released its annual report on human trafficking [JURIST report], concluding that the US has a “serious problem with human trafficking, both for labor and commercial sexual exploitation.”