Haitian Mothers of ‘Peacekeeping Babies’ File Lawsuit Against United Nations

As the international community reflects on the legacy of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (UNSTAMIH), which ended earlier this year after 13 years of controversy, a group of impoverished Haitian women whose children were fathered by UN peacekeeping soldiers have filed a lawsuit against the UN and the individual soldiers seeking paternity and child support claims. This is the first legal action of this kind made against the UN, who have been accused of failing to cooperate with groups representing the Haitian mothers by not providing requested DNA results or financial assistance. The mothers of eleven ‘peacekeeper babies’ aged between five and 11 have been working in conjunction with the Bureau Des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), a human rights group, and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH). Some of these women were below the legal age of consent in Haiti at the time they fell pregnant and many engaged in transactional sex with or were sexually assaulted by peacekeeping soldiers. These women are entirely reliant on UN assistance as most of the men involved are no longer deployed in Haiti.

Mario Joseph of the BAI hopes the lawsuit will “challenge the UN to conform to its own principles and its promises to better address sexual exploitation and abuse committed by peacekeepers in Haiti and worldwide.” One Haitian women stated that the UN “sent them to stop the violence and instead they’re the ones causing the violence,” while another described the official UN investigation “made me feel like it was my fault” when she reported her rape at the hands of a UN peacekeeper, which resulted in her becoming pregnant. Thus far, the UN has responded to the lawsuit by asserting an intention to work with the alleged father’s countries of origin to help address paternity and support claims, however claims that that responsibility lies with the peacekeeping soldiers and that “compensation is a matter of personal accountability to be determined under national legal processes.”

These women and their efforts to be recognized and compensated by the UN represent a wider problem of sexual exploitation and abuse that is rife among UN peacekeeping missions and that thus far has been inadequately responded to by the UN. Allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of civilians by UN peacekeeping soldiers have been made in almost every UN peacekeeping mission around the world, and indeed at least 134 peacekeepers in Haiti have been involved in sexual abuse scandals. It is likely also that most incidents of sexual exploitation go unreported as the UN has largely failed to create an environment in which civilians feel they can report abuse. The extreme power inequality among peacekeepers and civilians, coupled with a culture of impunity in which peacekeepers feel they are exempt from punishment and from complying with the laws of the country they are deployed, has created an environment in which sexual exploitation and abuse thrived in peacekeeping missions across the world. These actions are in direct contrast with the UN’s image as a benign actor operating to higher ethical standards than national military forces. Indeed, sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers undermines the aim of peacekeeping operations to create sustainable peace in post-conflict regions.

The UN’s reluctance to assist the Haitian mothers of ‘peacekeeping babies’ reveals a general unwillingness to recognize the prevalence of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeeping soldiers and the structural conditions of peacekeeping missions that have allowed such incidences to occur. The UN should take responsibility for the role they have played in this issue and respond meaningfully to the women filing this lawsuit.

Ruby Leonard

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