HRC58: ID with SR on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children
The 58th Session of the Human Rights Council
24 February - 4 April 2025
Item 3: SR on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children
13-14 March 2025
By Samantha Rodríguez Santillán / GICJ
Executive Summary
On 13-14 March 2025, at its 29th and 30th meeting of the 58th regular session, the Human Rights Council held the interactive dialogue on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children with the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Mama Fatima Singhateh.
The presented report (A/HRC/58/52)[1] outlines the activities of the Special Rapporteur and the activities undertaken since the last report. The study focuses on the sexual abuse of children within peacekeeping and humanitarian settings. The report identifies gaps in current efforts to address child sexual abuse and offers recommendations, emphasising the need to adopt a child-rights approach and tackle impunity for those responsible for these crimes.
During the interactive dialogue, states supported the SR in condemning every form of sexual violence affecting children. They condemned abuses and violations perpetrated by blue-helmets, who abuse their status as guarantor of peace to exploit vulnerable children. Delegates thus called for better accountability and for measures to safeguard victims on the ground.
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) is deeply concerned about the serious violations committed by UN peacekeepers, including acts of terror and abuse against children. These actions, which contravene international law, not only cause irreparable harm to victims but also undermine the credibility and mission of the United Nations and all peace-seeking nations. GICJ therefore urges the establishment of an independent international mechanism to ensure accountability, end impunity, and prevent further harm to children in peacekeeping and humanitarian contexts.
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Understanding the issue
In peacekeeping and humanitarian settings, children often face severe sexual abuse, including rape, trafficking, and exploitation, in exchange for aid like food or money. Notable cases have occurred in places such as Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, and the Central African Republic. The abuse leads to serious health risks, including pregnancies, illness, and even death, along with long-lasting psychological trauma. Victims, especially girls, are neglected education and opportunities, which trap them in cycles of poverty and exploitation. While the abuse of girls is more widely recognised, boys also suffer and face additional challenges accessing support due to stigma and societal barriers.
The United Nations operates in complex, often volatile field settings, where its peacekeeping and humanitarian operations are essential in helping countries and communities recover from crises. However, since the early 1990s, the UN has faced serious allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse, including against children. Disturbingly, the perpetrators of these crimes are often the very individuals deployed to protect vulnerable populations, creating a deep conflict between their mandate to safeguard and their failure to uphold the very principles they are tasked to defend.
Children at heightened risks of sexual abuse
Displaced children, especially those in transit areas or refugee and internally displaced persons' camps, are highly vulnerable to sexual abuse. Overcrowded shelters with poor conditions and a lack of privacy create environments where perpetrators can easily target children. Unaccompanied or separated children are at even greater risk due to the loss of family protection and their dependence on aid.
Children born as a result of sexual abuse
These children may face discrimination due to their mixed ethnicity or the stigma surrounding out-of-wedlock births, and the lack of a father can make it difficult for the mother to find a partner. These factors often isolate the mother and child from community support, including emotional and financial assistance.
In some cases, young mothers may resort to exploitative relationships with peacekeeping or humanitarian workers to survive. While legal systems in some countries may allow for paternity claims, they are often ineffective in conflict zones where legal systems are dysfunctional, leaving victims without protection or support.
Good practices and pathways to respond
A human rights-based approach to addressing child sexual abuse requires focusing on prevention, investigation, and response, prioritising the rights and needs of child victims. All UN peacekeeping and humanitarian missions must integrate child protection policies, considering local contexts and the specific vulnerabilities of children. Children are right-holders, and their voices must be included in decisions about their care, ensuring their safety, dignity, and empowerment. Interventions should support recovery and reintegration, avoiding further disempowerment.
Children should be educated about their rights, sexual exploitation, abuse, and available support and reporting channels to empower them to seek help. Awareness campaigns targeting children and their families should be enhanced, using accessible language. Peacekeeping missions must ensure thorough vetting of personnel to prevent those with a history of abuse from working with children. Training for all personnel should include child safeguarding, emphasising the consequences of abuse and failure to report it. Donors also play a key role by funding prevention initiatives and enhancing due diligence in funding agreements, helping to improve reporting and data collection on child sexual abuse.
Reporting sexual exploitation and abuse is crucial for holding perpetrators accountable and ensuring survivors receive support. The UN and Member States must create accessible, child-friendly reporting mechanisms tailored to children's needs and vulnerabilities. Engaging the community in building trusted, culturally appropriate reporting channels is key. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, local women leaders helped establish reporting channels that reached over 1.5 million people, including nearly 900,000 children.
Child victims of sexual abuse have the right to reparations, which should help them recover, reintegrate, and rebuild their lives. These reparations, such as compensation, rehabilitation, and guarantees of non-repetition, should match the severity of the harm. However, many victims in post-conflict areas lack access to remedies. The UN must support these victims through the healing process and ensure their rights are protected.
Additionally, child victims and those born of sexual abuse should have access to the UN’s trust fund, which helps provide vital services like safety, medical care, education, and legal assistance.
Current frameworks for investigating allegations of sexual abuse of children in peacekeeping and humanitarian contexts are complex and slow due to the involvement of multiple actors and processes, often requiring referrals across different entities. Different laws apply to various categories of personnel (military, police, civilian), making the process even more intricate. To ensure consistent justice, particularly in cases of sexual abuse of children, an independent accountability mechanism is needed.
A proposed solution is the establishment of a special court mechanism with the authority to investigate and prosecute child sexual abuse cases involving United Nations personnel, including military members, where their home countries are unable or unwilling to act. This mechanism would be staffed by a trained team with expertise in sexual violence investigations, especially those involving children.
Recommendations
The key recommendations given in the report are:
- Integrating Children’s perspective: UN entities should adopt a child rights-based approach and implement child-safeguarding policies in all peacekeeping and humanitarian operations;
- Training and Awareness: provide peacekeepers and humanitarian workers with training on preventing sexual abuse of children and ensure local communities are aware of children's rights;
- Child-Friendly Reporting: establish accessible, confidential, child-friendly reporting mechanisms for children to safely disclose abuse;
- Special Court Mechanism: propose the creation of a special court to investigate and prosecute child sexual abuse by UN and military personnel when national jurisdictions fail; and
- Accountability and Victims’ Participation: ensure that victims receive feedback on the actions taken after reporting abuse, including the outcomes of investigations.
Interactive Dialogue
Opening Statements
Ms. Singhateh, the Special Rapporteur, highlighted key efforts and challenges in combating child sexual abuse, particularly within peacekeeping and humanitarian contexts. She explained that the report identifies gaps in current UN responses and recommends adopting a child rights-based approach, integrating stronger child safeguarding measures, and holding perpetrators accountable. Despite progress, including a zero-tolerance policy and victim support mechanisms, the ongoing problem of sexual abuse within peacekeeping and humanitarian missions persists, with over 200 allegations recorded in 2023.
She called for concrete steps, including an independent court mechanism to prosecute perpetrators and amendments to legal agreements to enhance accountability. She also recommended increased contributions to the trust fund for victims and urged donors to include child safeguarding policies in their funding agreements.
Finally, she concluded by encouraging further cooperation and country visits to strengthen the mandate and improve responses to these issues.
Country and Regional Group Statements
The delegate of the European Union remained committed to combating child abuse and exploitation, especially in peacekeeping and humanitarian contexts. He emphasised the need for a child rights-based approach in all strategies and comprehensive training to prevent abuse. Lastly, he highlighted the EU’s guidance note on sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian settings, focusing on a survivor-centered approach and zero tolerance for abuse.
The representative of Kuwait shared insights on the country’s new laws to better protect children, increasing penalties for trafficking and sexual exploitation. At the same time, she voiced concern about the violations of Palestinian children’s rights under Israeli occupation. She also expressed support for international efforts to assist and protect Palestinian children.
The representative of Costa Rica was alarmed by the persistence of abuses in peacekeeping and humanitarian contexts. She highlighted the great contradiction rooted in power imbalances, as often perpetrators used their position as “protectors” to commit violations. The delegate thus urged the international community to ensure that funding to address abuses reaches those most in need and includes affected children in decision-making.
The delegate of Ghana, on Behalf of the Group of African States, expressed deep concern over the numerous allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of children, particularly in Africa, by UN personnel. Recalling “Aspiration 7 of the African Union’s Agenda 2040” she stressed that such forms of abuse have a lasting impact on children’s development and well-being.
The representative of India highlighted her country’s role as one of the largest troop-contributing states to UN peacekeeping. For this reason, she raised particular concerns about cases of sexual exploitation and abuse. The delegate affirmed that India shared the Council’s strict policy of zero tolerance and remained firm in the commitment to accountability and prevention.
UNICEF Statement
UNICEF shared her concern over the persistent and underreported cases of child sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping and humanitarian contexts. While progress has been made, significant gaps remain. They echoed the call for stronger legal frameworks, survivor-centered support, and accessible reporting mechanisms. They remained committed to supporting efforts to prevent abuse and uphold children’s rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Statements
They denounced the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on minors, arguing that these interventions are experimental, lack long-term scientific data, and are being conducted without adequate medical oversight. They claimed such practices can cause irreversible harm and called for their immediate ban. They called for humanitarian access and an independent investigation into the situation.
Concluding Remarks
Ms Singhateh reiterated that the sexual exploitation of children, particularly in peacekeeping and humanitarian settings, remains a pressing concern. She stressed that accountability must go beyond disciplinary measures and include criminal liability for perpetrators, including international personnel.
She called for the creation of a dedicated international judicial mechanism to address impunity in these contexts and emphasised the need to move from general prevention rhetoric to concrete action and systemic reforms. She highlighted the importance of ensuring equal protection for all children under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and concluded by inviting delegations to attend a side event on the issue, underlining the need for collective international efforts to end all forms of exploitation and abuse.
Position of Geneva International Centre for Justice
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) is deeply concerned about the serious violations committed by UN peacekeepers, including acts of terror and abuse against children. These actions, which contravene international law, not only cause irreparable harm to victims but also undermine the credibility and mission of the United Nations and all peace-seeking nations. GICJ therefore urges the establishment of an independent international mechanism to ensure accountability, end impunity, and prevent further harm to children in peacekeeping and humanitarian contexts.
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