UN seeks to eliminate peacekeeping sex scandals

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The first major review of UN peace operations in 15 years recommends that countries which flout children's rights should be barred from sending troops to blue helmet missions.

A panel headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner and rights champion Jose Ramos-Horta was tasked with rethinking peacekeeping as UN missions are increasingly under threat and increasingly manage conflicts.

Ramos-Horta submitted his report to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday and was tapped to carry out the mission before allegations implicated UN peacekeepers in sexual abuse in Haiti and Liberia, and French troops in Central African Republic.

A summary of the report, obtained by AFP, recommends that troops from countries that flout the rights of children in armed conflict be excluded from UN peacekeeping missions.

The United Nations publishes annual lists to shame countries with questionable records on children and armed conflict, and on conflict related sexual violence.

The report also recommends that disciplinary action -- or the lack of it -- taken by troop contributing countries be disclosed.

Six-month deadlines should also be imposed on investigations, compared to an average 16 months, and "an effective and adequately resourced victim assistance program" set up.

Peacekeepers' immunity from prosecution must not mean impunity, and should not be extended to UN personnel alleged to have committed sexual exploitation and abuse, the summary recommended.

The report also recommends that the 16 UN peacekeeping missions adapt to new realities in which they are targets for extremist groups, as in Mali, or can be kidnapped, such as on the Golan Heights.

In the last 15 years, crises have multiplied and the number of UN peacekeeping troops has soared to nearly 130,000 from 20,000.

Their mandate is also more complex: they have to protect civilians but also help host countries prepare for elections.