SUDAN RESPONSE: EFFORTS TO COMBAT SEXUAL ABUSE AND

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000218 DEPT FOR AF/SPG AND IO ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU SUBJECT: SUDAN RESPONSE: EFFORTS TO COMBAT SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION BY UNAMID PEACEKEEPERS REF: A) 2008 STATE 125595 B) 2008 KHARTOUM 139 C) KHARTOUM 201 ¶1. (SBU) UNAMID requires all military personnel, civilian employees and UN Volunteers to undergo training to recognize, report and prevent sexual exploitation and abuse. John Alstrom, UNAMID Chief of Staff, and Wayne Hyde, head of the UNAMID Conduct and Discipline Unit (CDU),said that UNAMID's 12,000 plus peacekeepers in Darfur are held to strict standards that prohibit and, if violated, penalize any sexual exploitation and abuse of local populations. Allegations of UNAMID peacekeepers engaging in abuse are investigated thoroughly, and if allegations are substantiated, the investigation is followed by repatriation of the individual involved in the incident. UNAMID leadership treats the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse by its peacekeepers as a high priority in implementing the organization's mandate in Sudan. ¶2. (SBU) As a veteran of the MONUC peacekeeping mission in Congo, Alstrom reported that his first priority upon arrival in Darfur was to establish the CDU and create a central database to track conduct and discipline issues within the ranks of UNAMID international staff and peacekeepers. Not content to rely on the training that peacekeepers may receive in their home countries, the CDU trains them on prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse immediately upon their arrival in Darfur. The CDU is currently conducting a train-the-trainers exercise to expand its reach into individual units of peacekeepers. UNAMID CDU conducts regular outreach to UNAMID team sites throughout Darfur, and Alstrom said UNAMID plans to deploy CDU officers to be based full-time in the Darfur cities of Nyala, El Geneina and Zalingei. ¶3. (SBU) Sudanese human rights activists do not consider UNAMID peacekeepers to be engaged in widespread sexual abuse and exploitation of local populations. Amir Suleiman, director of the independent Khartoum Center for Human Rights, said that his organization tracked no sexual exploitation cases involving UNAMID peacekeepers in 2008. Khalil Tukras, an independent Darfuri human rights activist, had likewise received no reports of UNAMID peacekeepers engaged in sexual abuse and exploitation, but he commented that El Fasher residents remain suspicious that international workers, including UN staff based at the UNAMID compound there, solicit local women as prostitutes. He suggested that UN officials conduct better outreach to residents of El Fasher, and coordinate with local law enforcement to stem the practice, if it does exist. FERNANDEZ