UN to Introduce Measures to Counter Sexual Assaults by Peacekeepers

The United Nations is expected to introduce a special set of measures to counter the sexual assaults by the UN staff amid recent report of growing number of abuse cases, Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare said on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the United Nations announced that there were 99 registered allegations of sexual abuse or exploitation filed against UN staff members last year.

"In this regard, the Secretary-General is proposing the creation of a trust fund. It would be funded voluntarily, but also from the salaries withheld from those who face significant allegations which have been substantiated," Khare told the UN News Centre.

The trust fund is the core of a so-called victim-based approach, which is aimed at providing urgent psycho-social and medical assistance to the people who had been abused, he said.

According to Khare, other UN measures include increased coordination to better address the issue, as well as providing a greater level of transparency, so the victims felt freer to lodge complaints against peacekeepers, and there be more places to allow them do so.

The new measures are also set to identify the countries from which the perpetrators came, and the UN would do more research in the countries that are directly concerned with the issue.

In 2014, 80 sexual assault and related claims filed in 2014, the majority of them were filed against staff in 10 peacekeeping missions.