COTE D'IVOIRE: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF UN EFFORTS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABIDJAN 000760

SIPDIS

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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

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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.



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