Just a few "minor" problems

[bcholmes]

According to the United Nations Conduct and Discipline Unit, 758 allegations of misconduct have been reported in the past five years; 217 of which were categorized as sexual exploitation and abuse. Out of the 217 reported cases since 2007, 58 remain classified as “pending”. This 27% rate of uninvestigated sexual exploitation and abuse cases does not amount to the zero-tolerance policy indicated in the MINUSTAH mandate.

Just in the year since the last renewal of the MINUSTAH mandate, there have been several examples of abuses of authority within MINUSTAH including the torture of three Haitians in Cite Soliel by Brazilian troops on December 13, the kidnapping and rape of the minor Roody Jean by two Pakistani soldiers on January 20th, and the beating of students in Lycée Capois de Limonade on January 31

- from a letter to the UN Security Council from the Mennonite Central Committee Haiti

I was talking to one of my THAC colleagues the other night: he does a lot of research related to MINUSTAH and he pointed out that, because MINUSTAH is the only so-called peacekeeping force in a country that is not at war, the UN tends to view MINUSTAH favourably because soldiers aren't killed on a frequent basis (the earthquake being an anomaly). From that point of view, the mission is considered more successful than, say, UNAMA (Afghanistan) or MONUSCO (Congo).