[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 26 (Tuesday, March 8, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E386-E387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION MISSION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF 
                 CONGO: A CASE FOR PEACEKEEPING REFORM

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 8, 2005

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the recent 
U.N. Peacekeeping scandal in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  We know that there have been disturbing allegations of sexual 
misconduct and exploitation of refugees by U.N. peacekeepers and 
civilian personnel assigned to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the 
Democratic Republic of Congo. Human rights groups and the U.N.'s own 
internal investigations have uncovered over 150 allegations against 
Mission personnel. These allegations typically involve peacekeepers' 
sexual contact with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for 
food or small sums of money. According to the U.N., these contacts 
occurred with regularity, and many involved girls under the age of 18, 
with some as young as 11-14. Even more troubling are allegations of 
rape, forced prostitution, and demands of sex for jobs by U.N. civilian 
personnel.
  Some in our audience might be thinking that apart from the more 
serious allegations of rape and other sexual abuse, prostitution is the 
world's oldest profession and that it is unrealistic to ask soldiers 
away from their families to abstain from sex. This attitude of ``boys

[[Page E387]]

will be boys'' is indeed common. In fact, the U.N. reported that it 
encountered significant and widespread resistance to its investigation, 
and that numerous U.N. personnel were unwilling to identify 
perpetrators.
  The reality, however, is that this state of affairs is not just a 
private matter involving only the personal moral choices of the 
peacekeepers. Hundreds of vulnerable women and children are being re-
victimized; the reputation of the United Nations is being badly 
damaged; and lack of internal discipline is compromising security and 
effectiveness of the peacekeeping operations. From any perspective, 
this situation is deplorable.
  Let me expand on a few of these points. First, United Nations forces 
conducting operations under United Nations command and control are 
tasked with upholding international humanitarian law and have a 
particular duty to protect women and children from sexual assault or 
exploitation. Peacekeepers have a responsibility to protect the most 
vulnerable members of Congolese society. When the peacekeepers become 
the exploiters, something is dreadfully wrong.
  Second, the civilian population is especially vulnerable. There are 
frequent outbreaks of armed violence in the eastern half of the Congo, 
especially in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, as the 
country emerges from its second war in the last ten years. The civilian 
population in these areas has experienced systematic acts of rape, 
torture, murder, and other abuse. Many of the Congolese women and girls 
in the camps which the peacekeepers are protecting have been orphaned 
and/or are victims of rape which occurred during the conflicts. 
Investigators found that they have experienced significant trauma which 
continues to affect them today.

  Poverty and hunger are also significant factors contributing to the 
abuse. Children driven by hunger approach the peacekeepers seeking food 
or the smallest sums of money. Many families are cut off from their 
farmlands because of fear of attacks from militia, and few alternate 
employment options exist. According to the U.N.'s own investigation, 
food supplies in some camps are reportedly inadequate.
  Third, the continued toleration of sexual exploitation and abuse by 
U.N. leaders is severely damaging the reputation and the effectiveness 
of the organization. All troop-contributing nations recognize the Code 
of Personal Conduct for Blue Helmets as binding. This Code explicitly 
bans any exchange of money, employment, goods or services for sex, and 
renders the perpetrators liable to disciplinary action for serious 
misconduct. In fact, the U.N. has promulgated at least five U.N. codes 
of conduct prohibiting sexual activity with children (persons under 18 
years of age) in the Congo, and yet the practice continues unabated.
  This activity is prohibited under rule four of the Code of Conduct 
for Blue Helmets, the MONUC code of conduct, the Secretary-General's 
bulletin on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation 
and sexual abuse of 2003 (ST/SGB/2003/13), section seven of the 
Secretary-General's bulletin on observance by United Nations forces of 
international humanitarian law of 1999 (ST/SGB/1999/13), and new ``non-
fraternisation'' regulations promulgated by U.N. Secretary General Kofi 
Annan in a letter to the U.N. Security Council on February 9th. That 
the abuse continues and is characterized by internal U.N. reports as 
``significant, widespread and on-going'' appears to indicate there is 
rather a state of ``zero-compliance with zero-tolerance'' throughout 
the mission.
  In the words of Dr. Sarah Mendelson, Senior Fellow at the Center for 
Strategic and International Studies, who testified in a joint issue 
forum before the House Armed Services Committee and the Helsinki 
Committee last fall, ``Military misconduct is a threat to any mission. 
When that misconduct involves human rights abuses, it affects the 
credibility and reputation of peacekeepers and can enrage local 
populations. When those implicated are also responsible for force 
protection, they can compromise their main military mission. . . . 
Those peacekeepers who serve with honor are being tainted by the 
minority who purchase sex with these women and girls and by the even 
smaller minority who actively engage in the grave human rights abuse of 
trafficking.''
  The U.N. has struggled with similar allegations regarding peacekeeper 
misconduct and sexual exploitation in the past ten years in Sierra 
Leone, Liberia, and Guinea, as well as on the European continent in 
Kosovo and Bosnia. Some of the underlying issues are complex, such as 
how to ensure perpetrators are held accountable when no effective U.N. 
mechanism exists, and Member states are unwilling to prosecute. Yet 
other simple fixes also exist, such as the creation of an offender 
database, holding commanders accountable for the conduct of their 
troops, and banning nations from peacekeeping missions which refuse to 
take disciplinary action. The seeming reluctance of the U.N. to act on 
some of these seemingly obvious solutions raises questions about the 
willingness of leadership to undertake reform, and raises questions 
about the ability of the U.N. to police itself.
  Furthermore, the United States Congress has a fiduciary obligation to 
do so. The United States is the world's largest donor to the 
peacekeeping mission in the Congo, contributing over $200 million 
annually, and contributes almost over a quarter of the entire 
peacekeeping budget of the United Nations. The Administration has asked 
the Congress for an additional $780 million for peacekeeping operations 
in the supplemental budget request.
  We hope that continual Congressional efforts will spur needed change, 
not only in the Congo, but in the standard operating practices of U.N. 
peacekeeping around the world.

                          ____________________