Secretary-General Creates High-Level Task Force to Improve United Nations Approach for Preventing, Addressing Sexual Abuse

The following announcement was made today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Secretary-General, in consultation with members of the Executive Committee, has asked Jane Holl Lute, the Special Coordinator for improving the Organization's response to sexual exploitation and abuse, to convene a high-level task force to develop, as a matter of urgency, a clear, game-changing strategy to achieve visible and measurable further improvement in the Organization’s approach to preventing and responding to sexual exploitation and abuse.

The Task Force will consist of Jane Holl Lute; William L. Swing, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration; Atul Khare, Under-Secretary-General, Department of Field Support; Stephen Mathias, Assistant Secretary-General, Office of Legal Affairs; Christian Saunders, Director, Office of the Under-Secretary-General of the Department of Management; Lieutenant General Carlos Humberto Loitey, Military Adviser, Department of Peacekeeping Operations; Alfredo W. Forti, Special Consultant to the Secretary-General; Nancee Bright, Chief of Staff, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict; and Francesca Marotta, Chief, Methodology, Education and Training Section, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Task Force will use the upcoming Report of the Secretary-General on Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation to present the elements of the strategy and the Chair is, therefore, charged to consult widely and as appropriate with all stakeholders among Member States, across the United Nations system, and with other relevant organizations.