(AIDS-Free World) – Speaking to journalists today, Paula Donovan and Stephen Lewis, co-directors of AIDS-Free World and its Code Blue Campaign, put forth a dramatic new proposal to halt the peacekeeper sexual abuse that has plagued the UN for decades. Member States should assume the temporary oversight, management, and control of all aspects of this crisis, they said, if UN peacekeeping is to survive with its integrity and reputation intact. “Another expert panel has declared a state of emergency within the UN system itself,” said Paula Donovan. “Vulnerable women and children deserve more than hollow commitments to ‘zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse’ from UN officials who respond to warnings as though their bureaucracy were too big to fail. We propose that Member States temporarily assume ‘guardianship’ by appointing an external oversight board to manage the crisis to its end, and report directly to Member States.”
