UNGA WORKING GROUP ON ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS OF

UNCLAS STATE 145222

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPKO UN
SUBJECT: UNGA WORKING GROUP ON ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS OF
SEXUAL ABUSE

REF: A. USUN 796 (NOTAL)


B. STATE 126999 (NOTAL)

C. USUN 662 (NOTAL)


1. (U) The General Assembly Ad Hoc Working Group on
Assistance and Support to Victims of Sexual Exploitation and
Abuse (SEA) (by UN staff or related personnel) will meet
December 3-7, 2007 to discuss a draft statement of policy and
draft strategy (A/60/877). The Chairman of the Working Group
(WG),Costa Rican Permanent Representative to the UN Jorge
Urbina, would like to "streamline" discussion in advance of
the December meeting, in hopes of getting some concrete
movement forward on this complex and highly-charged issue in
December. He has suggested (ref A) that the WG focus on
providing basic assistance to "complainants" and "victims",
rather than addressing the range of questions -- legal,
medical, social, practical -- that can arise from efforts to
investigate, substantiate and resolve claims of assault,
paternity and similar issues involving persons in different
categories (civilian, military, police),possibly residing in
different countries.


2. (U) USUN should advise other delegations that the U.S.
views abuse of vulnerable populations and individuals by UN
staff or related personnel, including peacekeepers, with the
utmost seriousness. Nevertheless, the proposed strategy and
statement of policy present numerous challenges. We do not
believe that these complicated questions can be resolved
between now and December. These questions include, to name
just a few, issues of national jurisdiction, legal liability,
establishing paternity or other claims when accusers and
accused are in different countries, investigation and chains
of evidence, substantiating allegations, and protection of
victims. We support Ambassador Urbina's recommendation that
the WG start by seeking agreement on non-contentious issues,
and build from there.


3. (U) Overview:

Immediate response: We recommend that the WG begin by
approving immediate, basic support to persons (victims or
complainants) alleging SEA or filing a paternity suit. This
assistance could take the form of medical attention,
including counseling, to meet immediate needs, and should
include a clear explanation in the local language and in
writing of resources currently available for further action.
This should also include contact information to assist the
complainant or his/her representative in following up with
the relevant TCC, with regard to the claim. It should be
made clear that the UN will not serve as the individual's
advocate; as noted in paragraph 6 of the draft strategy, the
UN bears no legal liability for acts of SEA committed by UN
staff or related personnel.

Funding mechanism: The WG, by which we mean Member States,
should be focusing attention on a funding mechanism to
provide as much support as possible. The USG believes that
the final responsibility for providing longer term support to
victims lies with the perpetrators of the SEA (including
those fathering children). It may be very difficult, often
impossible, to get such redress, but it is inappropriate for
the UN to bear the costs. We support a voluntary mechanism,
or Trust Fund, to which any Member State could contribute.
To the extent that it is possible to recoup such costs from
the perpetrators, that should be the goal.

Scope/Applicability: In our view, the General Assembly does
not have the authority to mandate adoption of a
comprehensive, system-wide strategy. A number of the UN
agencies proposed for inclusion in such a strategy operate
independently of the General Assembly, with separate chains
of command and funding. However, the U.S. has been in the
forefront of efforts to establish a consistent, system-wide
code of conduct, and the GA should consider endorsing similar
efforts to ensure consistency in response to victims and
complainants of SEA. The Secretary-General and heads of UN
agencies and entities meet regularly as the Chief Executive
Board (CEB); this may be the appropriate forum. USUN should
pursue this question in discussions with the UN Secretariat
and Member States.

Non-financial assistance: As discussed above, responsibility
for providing longer term medical, educational, legal and
other forms of non-cash assistance, lies ultimately with the
perpetrators. The USG does not support the transfer of such
costs to UN peacekeeping operations, as proposed in the draft
strategy, nor the use of peacekeeping resources to create
social programs to address the spectrum of sexual violence,
but it may be possible for the appropriate UN agencies
already in country to establish working groups to leverage or
adapt existing programs. We strongly recommend postponing
any detailed discussion of this medium- and longer-term
assistance until after the WG has agreed on immediate
response and funding.

Paternity: This is an issue which we firmly believe should
be deferred for later discussion, given the great variety in
national procedures and laws, the difficult questions of
privacy, and the challenges of addressing these issues if the
alleged father is no longer living in the same country as the
mother. It may be easier to establish a policy for certain
categories of UN or related personnel. That is, a code of
conduct and agreement to specific procedures could be made a
condition of employment for civilian staff or UN implementing
partners; the same would most likely not apply to troops
contributed by Member States to peacekeeping operations, who
are managed under different procedures and agreements. While
the question of establishing paternity should be deferred
until future discussions, the strategy should address
immediate assistance to be provided to children who may have
been fathered by UN staff or related personnel.

Investigations: Similarly, the question of how to handle
investigations becomes complicated by questions of due
process for the accused as well as protection for the
complainant and Member States' own laws and procedures for
protecting their citizens. Moreover, discussion of the
investigative process in the context of the victims'
assistance strategy risks duplicating and conflicting with
discussions already underway in the C-34 and the Fifth
Committee. The U.S. believes this issue could also derail
any progress in December on more immediate victims'
assistance goals, and believes it should not be a topic of
discussion in the Working Group's deliberations leading up to
and during the December meeting.

Complaints: All complainants should be treated with
courtesy, and the process of filing complaints should be made
as simple and transparent as possible, including by providing
information materials in the local language. As is already
the policy for complaints against personnel attached to UN
peacekeeping operations, the UN should publicize its
procedures. In the interest of both complainants and
accused, there should be an established and confidential
procedure for initiating an investigation or counselling a
complainant on next steps. It is critical that immediate
response to the needs of victims and complainants should be
given with respect and in a manner that does not further
injure the party filing the complaint.


4. (U) Draft Policy Statement and Strategy: In the context
of the above discussion, and the USG's desire to have the
December meeting of the WG yield positive results, we note
that the draft policy statement and strategy tend to blur
"victims" and "complainants." We agree that it is likely
that SEA is underreported, and do not believe that the
clarification of international response to this serious
problem is (as some Member States have suggested) an open
invitation to fraudulent complaints. Nevertheless, the
distinction is important; not all complaints will be made in
good faith or be legitimate. As discussed above, we support
a consistent system-wide approach to victim assistance, but
do not believe that this can be done on the GA's authority.
The U.S. underlines that for any such response to have real
effect or meaning, Member States must also consider what
steps they should take with regard to their own nationals.
Also as discussed, the ultimate responsibility for providing
assistance and support to victims lies with perpetrators, and
we oppose transferring the costs to the UN.
RICE