EFFORTS TO COMBAT SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE IN UN

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000139 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, AF SE WILLIAMSON IO DEBORAH ODELL AND CECILY BREWER ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU SUBJECT: EFFORTS TO COMBAT SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE IN UN PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS REFERENCE: (A) 07 STATE 170451 (B) 07 KHARTOUM 0125 ¶1. (SBU) The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) mandates that all civilian employees, military personnel, and UN Volunteers undergo training to recognize, report and prevent sexual exploitation and abuse. According to the UNMIS Chief of Conduct and Discipline Aster Zaoude, all personnel must undergo preventative sexual exploitation and anti-abuse training at induction and then refresher field training while in country. As an example of the training, Zaoude said that the UN, in cooperation with the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Government of South Sudan, conducted field training and workshops on January 22 to 24, in Juba. The field training included a train-the-trainer component, which will continue to train smaller field elements aimed at combating sexual exploitation and abuse. ¶2. (SBU) Zouade said that the sexual exploitation and abuse monitoring task force established in 2007 (ref B) continues to meet regularly with the Government of South Sudan (GOSS),local NGOs and with the senior UN country elements. The monitoring task force has programs to inform the public of UN efforts to combat sexual exploitation and abuse and to educate the public on where to report allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse. Zoaude emphasized the ongoing and comprehensive nature of the prevention programs. ¶3. (SBU) UNAMID human rights officers told poloff on January 29 that UNAMID is still in the process of recruiting staff but plans to have its own Conduct and Discipline Unit. They stated that UNAMID would institute and maintain the same preventative measures to combat sexual exploitation and abuse as UNMIS. ¶4. (SBU) In January 2007, allegations surfaced that UNMIS personnel engaged in sexual exploitation and abuse against the local population. Since then, UNMIS conducted an aggressive training program (ref B) and instituted a "zero-tolerance" policy against such exploitation and abuse. For the remainder of 2007, post is not aware of any sexual exploitation and abuse allegations against any UNMIS staff or AMIS staff in Darfur. FERNANDEZ