By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 9 -- The
UN reported on
sexual
exploitation
and abuse
allegations
against it on
Wednesday in a
half-filled
conference
room
with, it
seemed, only
one media
organization
in attendance.
After
the summary
disclosure of
over 100
allegations of
sexual abuse
against the UN
in
2011,
Department of
Field Support
official Tony
Banbury gave
an
upbeat
presentation
about UN
peacekeeping,
including its
logistics
base in
Entebbe,
Uganda.
But
is 100
complaints
really
acceptable?
The
accompanying
written report
is
evasive on
what
discipline
resulted, and
by which
member states.
It
alludes to but
does not
describe
"measures
taken" at the
missions in
among other
countries Cote
d'Ivoire, the
Congo, Liberia
and Haiti
(repeatedly).
But the abuses
continue.
Banbury's
presentation
about
centralized
logistics and
Entebbe did
not mention
what Inner
City Press got
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
to confirm on
May 8, that
Sudan is
blocking
flights from
Entebbe to
the Mission in
Darfur.
Inner
City Press
asked what
percentage of
the Entebbe
base's work
involves
Darfur but
the question
has not been
answered.
Banbury
urged the
Budget
Committee to
provide
support to
protect
peacekeepers.
But, for
example, while
Herve Ladsous
the fourth
Frenchman in a
row atop UN
Peacekeeping
has repeatedly
said that a
Status of
Forces
Agreement is
immanent for
the Abyei
mission
UNISFA, it has
still not been
signed,
without
explanation.
The lack of a
SOFA led, in
part, to the
bleed-out and
death of
peacekeepers.
Many
of the Fifth
(or Budget)
Committee's
fixtures were
in place,
along for
example
with Russian
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Pankin. One
waits to
hear from lead
US Budget
Committee and
Reform
ambassador Joe
Torsella
-- is this
level of
sexual abuse,
and the UN's
lack of
transparency
in following
up on it,
acceptable?
And if not,
who's to
blame? Watch
this site.
