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Home > CLRJ > Vol. 38 > Iss. 1 (2020)

 

Children's Legal Rights Journal

Authors

Sonja Grover

Abstract

Over the years, there have been hundreds of unresolved allegations and specifically-identified, credible cases of United Nations- ("UN") mandated or otherwise UN-authorized international peacekeepers perpetrating sex-related human rights violations and crimes against children in the country of deployment. In some situations, such as in the Central African Republic, children have been the frequent victims of these alleged sex crimes by international peacekeepers. Arguably, these crimes can rise to the level of Rome Statute-defined international crimes in some instances. 2 This paper discusses the potential for child participation in international judicial and quasi-judicial mechanisms directed towards: (i) criminal and/or civil accountability of individual international peacekeepers for sexual exploitation and abuse of children, and (ii) accountability of the troop-sending State where there is a failure of that State to properly investigate and, where warranted, prosecute their peacekeeper nationals responsible for SEA perpetrated while on a UN peacekeeping mission. This paper also highlights the tensions that can arise between (i) the child's right to participate in the pursuit of justice in seeking accountability and a remedy for their SEA victimization by international peacekeepers and (ii) the child's immediate and long-term protection needs.

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