The United Nations was scrambling. Reports were surfacing, based on firsthand knowledge, of U.N. peacekeepers grossly exploiting their positions by sexually abusing destitute citizens entrusted to their care.
While a remarkably similar story is currently unfolding, the allegations above emerged four years ago. Former U.N. employee Dr. Andrew Thomson witnessed these atrocities in the early part of this decade and recounted his experiences, together with other staffers, in his 2004 memoir, “Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures.” That book not only exposed sexual abuse by U.N. forces, but also described senior U.N. officials’ inactions in the face of dysfunctional U.N. security and rampant financial corruption.
Thomson’s reward for coming forward with the truth? Initially, he was fired. Due to media pressure and legal assistance from our group and others, he was rehired months later and promoted to a position of greater responsibility. In the wake of Thomson’s revelations and the Oil-for-Food scandal, then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced he was working to improve whistleblower protections for all U.N. workers. In late 2005, Annan issued a whistleblower protection policy that was a breakthrough for freedom of expression at intergovernmental organizations. This crucial response had impeccable logic: given the breadth of the organization, U.N. officials could not possibly monitor all staff all the time. The organization had to rely on its own staffers to report on serious misconduct and gross ethical lapses.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Eerily similar allegations have emerged that U.N. peacekeeping troops demanded sexual favors from children in return for food in parts of the Sudan, Ivory Coast, and Haiti. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon immediately responded, announcing that a thorough investigation will take place, adding that he has a “zero tolerance policy” for these types of actions.
