Peacekeeping and sexual violencea complex mandate of limited effectiveness

Abstract

Sexual violence is one of the fundamental characteristics of the current conflict and post-conflict scenarios in which peacekeeping operations (PKO) are deployed, and is thus one of the major challenges facing such missions. Seeking to make a comprehensive critical reflection on the complex relationship between sexual violence and peacekeeping, the objective of this article is twofold. First, it aims to contribute to the debate regarding the role of PKO in relation to sexual violence in conflicts, examining the extent to which it serves to prevent and protect the civilian population from said violence. Second, it attempts to identify the reasons or circumstances that impede the implementation of this task, which in turn might hinder the PKO's potential as an important instrument to address sexual violence in conflicts. To this end, we first analyze the mandate of the PKOs to protect against sexual violence, which is included in a series of thematic agendas of the Security Council, such as "Women, Peace and Security" (WPS), "The Protection of the Civilian Population" (PCP) and "Children and Armed Conflict". This mandate is also reinforced on a broader spectrum by the obligation to "protect human rights," and the Responsibility to protect. We then identify the content of the mandate, moving from a broad perspective to a more specific analysis, looking at the operational and the typology of action in which its implementation is based. Second, we focus on identifying the reasons for its limited effectiveness: being an add-on obligaton: the weaknesses of the thematic agendas that support it; and, above all, the acts of SEA (sexual abuse and explotation) of mission members, and the prevailing impunity of their offenders.