SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS LEGAL EXPERT GROUP AIMED AT STRENGTHENING

PEACEKEEPING ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY ON SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

 

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a second Group of Legal Experts to conduct a study on the best ways to ensure that the Secretary-General’s bulletin on sexual exploitation and abuse (ST/SGB/2003/13) is binding on contingent members, and that United Nations norms of conduct are applicable to all categories of peacekeeping personnel.

The appointment of the Group of Experts is part of the broad package of reforms of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations to improve conduct and discipline in United Nations operations.

The project is among the wide range of recommended actions proposed by Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Adviser on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by United Nations Peacekeeping Personnel, in his report submitted to the Secretary-General and adopted by the General Assembly in June 2005.

A first Group of Experts, funded by the Government of Norway, was constituted to advise on ensuring accountability of United Nations Peacekeepers in October 2005.  That Group of Experts prepared a comprehensive report in March 2006, entitled “Ensuring the accountability of United Nations staff and experts on mission with respect to criminal acts committed in Peacekeeping Operations” (A/60/980).

Troop-contributing countries are responsible for the conduct and discipline of their troops.  United Nations rules can be made binding on military members of contingents only with the agreement of and action by the troop-contributing country concerned.  Therefore, a contingent member is not generally bound by the Secretary-General’s bulletin on sexual exploitation and abuse until the troop-contributing country has concluded and signed a memorandum of understanding or other agreement.  A significant period of time between the deployment of contingent members to peacekeeping missions and the subsequent conclusion of a memorandum of understanding often means that the accountability for acts of sexual exploitation and abuse and other forms of misconduct is unsatisfactory during this “gap period”.

United Nations peacekeeping operations may have several categories of personnel, including civilian, military and police components, which are governed by different rules and disciplinary procedures.  There is, therefore, a need for consistency between the standards of conduct that apply to peacekeeping personnel.

The Group of Experts has been tasked to study the best ways to deal with these two issues.  The Group began work at United Nations headquarters in New York on 12 September.  It is expected to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Secretary-General in November 2006.  The Secretary-General will then submit the report to the General Assembly.  Funding to support the work of the Group is provided by the Government of Norway.

The Group is composed of four experts recruited on the basis of their professional expertise in criminal and international law.  The Group is working in close cooperation with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs in the process of developing their recommendations.

The background of the experts selected is geographically and culturally diverse, so as to be able to represent different legal systems and traditions.  They are:

-- Diana Boernstein ( United States) -- Secretary for the Group of Experts.  She was formerly the Chief of the Administrative Review Unit, Office of Human Resources Management, representing the Secretary-General in in-house appellate and disciplinary proceedings.  Subsequently, she worked as the Chief of Rules, also in the Office of Human Resources Management, responsible for writing rules and administrative instructions.

-- Oluyemi Osinbajo ( Nigeria) -- Legal Expert in criminal law.  He is currently the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice for Lagos, and is a professor of Public Law at the University of Lagos.

-- Suesan Sellick ( Australia) -- Legal Expert in criminal matters.  She is currently a Principal Legal Officer in the Attorney-General’s Department in Australia and has previously served as a legal officer in the Australian Air Force.

-- Lionel Yee ( Singapore) -- Legal Expert in international law.  He is currently Senior State Counsel in the International Affairs Division of the Attorney-General’s Chambers in Singapore.

For more information, contact Yewande Odia, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, tel: +1 917 367 4359, e-mail: odiay@un.org; or Doug Coffman, Department of Public Information, tel: +1 212 963 4481, e-mail: coffmand@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record