In Haiti, years after the departure of some UN peacekeepers involved in cases of exploitation and sexual abuse, women and children continue to live with the consequences of these violence, often in forgotten and precarious situations.
During a recent mission in Haiti, Najat Nassif Palma, Defender of the rights of victims and survivors of exploitation and sexual abuse committed by UN personnel, met with women and children who were victims of abuse attributed to former peacekeepers.
“My role is to ensure that these victims are not invisible, that they have a voice, assistance, and access to justice,” she explained to UN Info.
The Defender discusses the needs expressed by survivors, including access to psychological, medical support, and income-generating activities to rebuild their lives and regain their dignity.
“They suffer in silence, they are stigmatized, sometimes they fear reprisals,” Mrs. Nassif Palma confides.
She also mentions the testimony of a young girl born of sexual abuse committed by a peacekeeper, the importance of paternity recognition for children born of these violence, as well as the efforts made with the Haitian authorities, civil society, and UN agencies to improve access to justice and services.
Najat Nassif Palma also reminds that “the United Nations have a particular responsibility because the aggressor represented the United Nations” at the time of the events.
Faced with the extreme violence of gangs, Haiti is now hosting international forces again. Although these do not fall under a direct mandate from the United Nations or that of the Defender, Mrs. Nassif Palma indicates that she has met with the officials of the multinational force to offer them the expertise of the United Nations and share “good practices” as well as “challenges and lessons learned” in preventing exploitation and sexual abuse.
The Defender says she was reassured by the commitment expressed by the force officials to make this issue “a priority.”
(Interview: Najat Nassif Palma, Defender of the rights of victims and survivors of exploitation and sexual abuse; remarks collected by Christina Silveiro)
