United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday rolled out a new, victims-centric approach to combatting the organization’s long-term battle with sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers against the civilians they are tasked with protecting.
The strategy is detailed in a report from Guterres’ office and includes the creation of a new human rights expert for victims’ rights — a first-of-its-kind position at the assistant secretary-general level within the U.N. It also plans to route more money into a year-old victims trust fund, which now holds just $436,120.
It also promises penalties for offending members. If troop-contributing countries fail to take legal action against their nationals who face credible claims of abuse, the U.N. could withhold funding and re-direct the money to the victims fund, according to the report.