Conduct and Discipline in Un Peacekeeping Operations: Culture, Political Economy and Gender

Lutz, Catherine; Gutmann, Matthew C.; Brown, Keith

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2323758

Cited by 4 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(7 reference statements)

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“…74 Lutz et al observe that UN peacekeeping officials, and some UN Member States, often see sexual exploitation and abuse as an issue of "indiscipline," and as a function of unchecked male human nature and sexual desires that can be contained and limited (including by such measures as "appropriate" recreational facilities for peacekeepers), rather than of skewed gender dynamics. This paper views rape as "a function of power, domination and gender inequality," 75 which is consistent with the majority of NGO reports and academic studies on sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers and peacekeepers, including in the context of displacement. Undoubtedly, "UN peacekeeping missions… impact unevenly on civilian populations in post--conflict environments, especially in relation to gender and security," 76 in part due to gendered power differentials.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworksupporting

confidence: 78%

Reporting sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeeping personnel: a research proposal on community perspectives

Mintz¹

2021

Preprint

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Persons displaced by conflict are considered especially vulnerable to sexual abuse by peacekeepers. While the UN reports publicly on allegations of "sexual exploitation and abuse" by peacekeepers, it is widely acknowledged that under-reporting is a significant problem. Proposed qualitative research involving local civil society organizations and community leaders supporting victims in the context of displacement will elicit their perceptions on the barriers to, and challenges associated with, formal reporting. The planned study, set out as a proposal, will assess perceptions of current reporting structures and recent UN reforms regarding "community-based complaint reception and mechanisms." This will inform further research and consultations into the design of more appropriate reporting structures. The research's dissemination, linked to the Code Blue campaign's advocacy to end impunity for sexual violence by peacekeepers, will seek to convince UN decision-makers that systemic reforms are needed to ensure that victims have better access to appropriate support and criminal justice.

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Section: Theoretical Frameworksupporting

confidence: 78%

Reporting sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeeping personnel: a research proposal on community perspectives

Mintz¹

2021

Preprint

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“…These incidents demonstrate the complexities of peacekeeping missions and the contracting aspects of having soldiers in charge of peacekeeping operations. It also demonstrates how the military is highly reliant on hyper-masculine traits of domination, power hierarchies, and how a culture of masculine privilege is in place, which in its basic form grants men power over women and gives them the "right" to exploit local women for sexual encounters (Lutz, Gutmann, and Brown 2009).…”

Section: A Peacebuilding Soldiermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, this has been part of the discussions on UNSCR 1325 and the subsequent nine resolutions and continues to be a focus area in UN peacekeeping and peacebuilding work. Some of the scholars who have demonstrated this type of behavior are political scientists Catherine Lutz, Matthew C. Gutmann, and Keith Brown (Lutz, Gutmann, and Brown 2009). They argue that systematic patterns of sexual exploitation, for many years, have emerged in areas where peacekeeping missions have taken place.…”

Section: A Peacebuilding Soldiermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The peacekeeping missions are right at the center of the transition of a cultural and political situation, with political, economic, and cultural powers and issues at play (Lutz, Gutmann, and Brown 2009). The issue of exploitation among the local population by (mainly) male peacekeeping soldiers demonstrates the importance of analyzing the role of masculinities and femininities in conflict settings and war.…”

Section: A Peacebuilding Soldiermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The issue of exploitation among the local population by (mainly) male peacekeeping soldiers demonstrates the importance of analyzing the role of masculinities and femininities in conflict settings and war. The behavior of male privilege of sexual exploitation is sometimes referred to as normal behavior for soldiers, and something that one might try to prevent through top-down policies, orders, and training, but that it is something that is natural for men and cannot be completely prevented (Mazurana, Raven-Roberts, and Parpart 2005;Higate 2007;Lutz, Gutmann, and Brown 2009). The issue is that a gendered analysis is rarely applied in this type of work and discrepancy between the soldiers' actions and the policies on sexual exploitation occur when the desired attitude of respect toward women and codes of conduct (emphasized by the UN) threatens a warrior character of militarized masculinity (Whitworth 2004).…”

Section: A Peacebuilding Soldiermentioning

confidence: 99%

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“We Don’t See Gender, Only Soldiers!” - Negotiating Military Identities in Narratives on Gender, Peace, and Security

Bennike¹

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October 31. 2000 marked a significant date in work on gender, peace, and security. Until then, women's experiences, perspectives, and the particular consequences of conflict and war for women were more or less absent from military work in peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions. However, this was about to change, as the Security Council on this date adopted United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) on Women, Peace, and Security, which marked the first of nine UN resolutions as of 2021 that have the intention of bringing gender perspectives to international peacekeeping (and peacebuilding) missions. With UNSCR 1325, gendered implications of conflict, peace, and security, which had been part of feminist activists and Feminist International Relations scholars' agenda for decades (Cohn 2004;Schott 2013;Shepherd 2008;Gibbings 2011) began to gain influence in UN military missions, and later NATO missions, and grew into an element of peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions, which today is difficult for member states to disregard.Being part of the ´friendly´ and cosmopolitan-minded North in terms of military work and politically manifesting a commitment to international military work through alliances with NATO and the UN, Denmark situates itself as a military force that albeit it relatively small size, is an active player on the international area and stresses a commitment to UNSCR 1325 i.e. by being the first country in 2005 to adopt the resolution. Nonetheless, despite articulating a national and institutional position as a frontrunner in regard to gender and military work, Denmark has faced critique from the UN, as well as scholars and practitioners. One of the main points has been the lack of focus on domestic issues with gender equality in the Danish Armed Forces as well as the lack of concrete actions to combat discrimination. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, and Ministry of Justice 2014). In the National Action Plan (NAP) from 2020, which covers the period 2020-2024, the Ministries have taken this critique into account and presents an ambition to "walk the talk" (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, and Ministry of Justice 2000).These contradicting national and institutional narratives of being a frontrunner on gender equality and at the same time face critique for this particular point in regard to how the Danish military works internally create certain conflicting narratives on military work and military identities within the Danish Armed Forces. These conflicting narratives have the potential to influence the everyday lives of Danish soldiers and their understandings of their military identities, military work, and duties. It also leads to challenges in the negotiations over military identities including the incorporation of other gendered bodies into the force, let alone adapting to management policies at the local level and the potential discrepancies between practice and policy.

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Military socialization, disciplinary culture, and sexual violence in UN peacekeeping operations

Moncrief

2017

Journal of Peace Research

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The sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) of civilians by international peacekeepers is a form of post-conflict violence that is pernicious and understudied, but far from inevitable. However, there are very few cross-mission analyses of the phenomenon. This article considers whether the socialization experiences of troops in two environments, the contributing state military and the peacekeeping mission itself, help to explain the observed variation in SEA. Drawing on a dataset of SEA allegations between 2007 and 2014, as well as the first publicly available data from the United Nations that identify the nationalities of alleged perpetrators, this article analyzes the layered nature of socialization through the lens of SEA. Specifically, this article presents evidence that SEA is positively associated with disciplinary breakdowns at the peacekeeping mission’s lower levels of command, and argues that a peacekeeping mission may carry its own norms and socializing processes that either constrain or facilitate the emergence and endurance of SEA.

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Conduct and Discipline in Un Peacekeeping Operations: Culture, Political Economy and Gender

Cited by 4 publications

References 22 publications

Reporting sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeeping personnel: a research proposal on community perspectives

Reporting sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeeping personnel: a research proposal on community perspectives

“We Don’t See Gender, Only Soldiers!” - Negotiating Military Identities in Narratives on Gender, Peace, and Security

Military socialization, disciplinary culture, and sexual violence in UN peacekeeping operations

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