About editorial of UN Special 651
“The sexual consultants”
Dear Jean-Michel,
I found your editorial in the May 2006 issue
of UNS disturbing. It showed a certain
confusion over a subject you yourself
appear to consider a serious issue.
In your view, the requirement to sign
ST/SGB/2003/13 on sexual abuse and
exploitation is a sign that the UN Administration
exists «far away from real life». On
the contrary, it is a major step towards “real life”.
In the real world it is widely accepted
that the prevention and gradual elimination
of sexual abuse in and around the
workplace depends (a) on a frank recognition
that such abuse exists and that any
staff member or sub-contractor (yes, Jean-Michel, even a Nobel prize-winner or a lift
mechanic) may be victim or perpetrator;
and (b) on signatures from individuals certifying
that they have read and accepted the
Organization’s policy on the subject. No
more excuses – everyone is informed!
You say, with irony, that it is «well-known
that the UN only [recruits] riff-raff.. who
spend their time raping ... widows and
orphans». Irony is not appropriate with
reference to the real victims of the sexual
abuses committed by members of thepeacekeeping forces and other international
civil servants (our colleagues!) in
Congo in 2002, for example. Actually, the
problem is precisely that these are not “riff-raff”, but in many cases people –
mainly, though not exclusively, men – who
are eminently respectable in their own
societies. As indeed every enquiry into
paedophilia and other sexual abuses
always shows without fail...
«Vexatious»? «Absurd»? I don’t think so.
These measures are an effort to redress
wholly distorted power relations, between
one group of people who have everything
and another group who not only have nothing
but moreover are totally dependent on
the first group. It is a way of giving the
Organization the arms it needs to take
genuine legal proceedings – i.e., within a
State’s domestic jurisdiction – against
criminals who, under UN «justice», would
be able to act with impunity.
It’s important not to confuse the issues.
The target is not the measure but how –
and whether – it is going to be put into
effect, in an Organization which still lacks
proper mechanisms of accountability.
Watch this space...in the real world.
Regards,
Nigel Lindup, ONUG.
© 2006 UN Special |