COTE D'IVOIRE: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF UN EFFORTS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000760 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2016 TAGS: PREL KPKO IV SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF UN EFFORTS TO COMBAT SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE IN UN PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS REF: STATE 112531 Classified By: POL/ECON Jim Wojtasiewicz, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (U) Sylvain Roy, Chief Conduct and Discipline Officer at the UN Operation in Cote D'Ivoire (ONUCI),briefed us July 12 on ONUCI's efforts to combat sexual abuse and exploitation (SEA). He explained that the Conduct and Discipline Team (CDT) is a newly formed unit; he himself arrived in December and he only recently finished recruiting the three other officers who will work under him. Much of CDT's work up to now has been in the area of prevention. A three-hour training course to sensitize ONUCI personnel about SEA has been made mandatory, and he said the course completion rate is now 95 percent. A one-page code of conduct has also been distributed to all ONUCI personnel. The training course and code of conduct are being reinforced with posters, articles in ONUCI's in-house magazine, etc. Roy said that a list of places throughout the country that are off limits to ONUCI personnel because of proximity to prostitution, created in March 2005, is being continuously updated. ¶2. (C) In the area of response, Roy was reluctant to provide us with numbers of cases, referring us to New York for this information. In general, cases are investigated in Abidjan, by a unit of the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and/or by ONUCI internal security, and they are adjudicated by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in New York. UN civilian employees whom New York determines to be guilty of SEA are subject to internal discipline up to and including termination. Cases involving UN military personnel, who remain under the employment of their own government rather than the UN, are referred to the judicial system of their home county. Roy did comment that as the prevention campaign penetrates more deeply, the number of reported cases could actually go up. Sari Nurro, the Special Assistant to the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG),who sat in on the meeting, assured SIPDIS us that combating SEA is a top priority for the SRSG and has his full attention and support. ¶3. (U) We spoke July 12 to Nathalie Coulibaly, the government official in charge of the National Committee for the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons. She said she has heard of bars that are known for a mix of clientele that include prostitutes and UN personnel. Coulibaly said that when the prostitutes see UN vehicles parked outside, they are attracted to those bars because they know that UN personnel have money. Coulibaly did not, however, cite any concrete cases of SEA by UN peacekeepers. Hooks