In Haiti, years after the departure of certain peacekeepers involved in cases of sexual exploitation and abuse, women and children continue to live with the consequences of this violence, often in oblivion and precariousness.
During a recent mission to Haiti, Najat Nassif Palma, Advocate for the Rights of Victims and Survivors of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Personnel, met women and children 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 explains to UN Info.
The Defender returns to the needs expressed by the survivors, in particular access to psychological and medical support and to income-generating activities to rebuild their lives and regain their dignity.
“They suffer in silence, they are stigmatized, sometimes they are afraid of reprisals,” confides Ms. Nassif Palma.
She also discusses the testimony of a young girl born from sexual abuse committed by a Blue Helmet, the importance of recognition of paternity for children born from this violence, as well as the efforts made with the Haitian authorities, civil society and UN agencies in order to improve access to justice and services.
Najat Nassif Palma also recalls that “the United Nations have a particular responsibility because the aggressor represented the United Nations” at the time of the events.
Faced with extreme gang violence, Haiti is now once again welcoming international forces. Even if these fall neither under a direct mandate from the United Nations nor from that of the Defender, Ms. Nassif Palma indicates that she met those responsible for the multinational force in order to offer them the expertise of the United Nations and share “good practices”, as well as “challenges and lessons that we have already had learned” about preventing sexual exploitation and abuse.
The Defender says she was reassured by the commitment expressed by those in charge of the force to make this issue “a priority”.
(Interview: Najat Nassif Palma, Defender of the Rights of Victims and Survivors of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; comments collected by Crisitna Silveiro)
