Year: 2018 | Month: December | Volume 6 | Issue 2
Conflict in Identity of UN Military Peacekeepers: A Probable Cause for the Persistence of SEA
Retika
V.
DOI:10.30954/2454-9525.02.2018.1
Abstract:
United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKO) have been plagued by cases of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) since the 1990s. Despite the deep disgrace that these cases have brought to the international community, fresh allegations continue to be unearthed even in 2018. Such occurrences mar the recovery of the people from the trauma of conflict and create fresh problems in their wake. This paper examines perpetration of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) by UN military peacekeepers, as a result of their identity being limited to that of their nation and their inability to embrace an international identity due to a variety of systemic factors. The national identity of the military personnel proves to be an obstacle to their internalization of the standards of conduct of the UN, which leads to the persistence of SEA. This paper argues that since the troops identify with their national identity on an international mission in a foreign soil, they do not feel beholden to the values and ethics of the international organization that they represent. Not that the national identity propagates SEA, but the roles of a traditional army and a UN Peacekeeping mission, are often at odds with each other. While the former trains you for war and a paternalistic protection of the nation’s citizens, the latter expects you to maintain peace among foreign communities. The paper also examines the idea of ‘militarized masculinity’ as proposed by feminists, as an integral element of a national military identity, which continues to inform a military official’s actions even as a peacekeeper. The paper lays emphasis on the nature of pre-deployment training as a cause for the inadequate formation of an international and impartial identity. The punitive actions taken in case of a substantiated allegation of SEA and the presence of national authority even during decision making on ground, in a UNPKO, strengthen the national identity of a troop member. These factors then act as obstacles in the formation of an identity that is in accordance with the UN principles, and thereby contribute to the persistence of SEA even in 2018.
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