International Master s Program in International Studies National Chengchi University

Transcription

1 International Master s Program in International Studies Female peacekeepers and the Prevention of Sexual Abuses - A Case Study of the All-Female Indian Unit in Liberia - Maria Klinner Advisor: Dr. Wei, Mei-chuan May, 2017

2 Dedication Für die beiden wichtigsten Menschen in meinem Leben. Danke Hexe und Bär, dass ihr mir in jeder Lebenssituation den Rücken gestärkt habt. Und für die kleine Tante. Danke, dass du vor allem in Bezug auf Studienfragen immer ein offenes Ohr für mich hattest.

3 Acknowledgement I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to my advisor Dr. Mei-Chuan Wei for her positive and supportive guidance. Furthermore I would like to thank Dr. Chelsea Chou and Dr. Ariel Ko for being on my thesis committee and for giving me insightful feedback. Also, I would like to thank the United Nations Information Service in Vienna, especially Katharina Goetze and Martin Nesirky, for introducing me to my thesis topic. Special thanks goes to my roommate and dear friend Miriam Traverso, who kept my spirits high during the process of writing this thesis. Not only was she always willing to listen to my worries, but she also managed to disperse many of them. I am also very grateful to my host sister Maeve Bassett, who proof read my thesis and made sure that the spelling and grammar are up to par. I also owe thanks to my Chinese Tutor Catherine Hsu for translating the abstract of this thesis into Chinese. Without her it would have definitely taken a lot longer. I would like to show my gratitude to Chafie (Chi-Hui Wei), our dear IMPIS secretary, who made sure that all administrative matters were taken care of, and who always had time for us. Last but not least, I owe a big thank you to my family and friends (here in Taiwan and all around the world) for not just supporting me during the writing of this thesis, but for being there for me in any kind of situation. I could not have done it without you.

4 Abstract Over the years UN peacekeeping missions have come under fire many times due to misconduct, especially of the sexual kind, committed by peacekeepers. Since the UN does not have any influence on the punishment of the perpetrators and measures like the zero-tolerance policy have only been partly successful, policymakers have tried to find other means that can prevent sexual exploitation and abuse from occurring. One perspective is that increasing the number of female peacekeepers will have a positive influence on the behavior of male peacekeepers. It is a perspective that tends to be harshly criticized because it heavily relies on traditional gender stereotypes. This thesis seeks to analyze to what extent an increased percentage of female peacekeepers can prevent sexual assault in general from occurring, and will try to understand whether female peacekeepers can actually prevent their male colleagues from committing sexual exploitation and abuse. The author will do so by conducting a case study on the all-female Indian unit that was stationed in the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia from 2007 to Since sexual assault is a very delicate topic and incidents are usually under-reported this study will also have a look at the effect the all-female unit and other female peacekeepers had in Liberia in general. Based on the analysis the author provides several policy recommendations and argues that more female participation in peacekeeping should be a right that does not need any additional justification.

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6 Acronyms AFL CPA ECOWAS ECOMOG FPU INPFL LDF LNP LPC LURD MARWOPNET MODEL MONUSCO NPFL NPFL-CRC OIOS PKO ULIMO-J ULIMO-K UN UN DPKO UNMIL UNOL UNOMIL UNPOL UNSCR WIPNET Armed Forces of Liberia Comprehensive Peace Agreement Economic Community of West African States Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group Formed Police Unit Independent National Patriotic Front Lofa Defense Force Liberian National Police Liberian Peace Council Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy Mano River Women s Peace Network Movement for Democracy in Liberia United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo National Patriotic Front of Liberia National Patriotic Front of Liberia Central Revolutionary Council Office of Internal Oversight Services Peacekeeping Operation United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia J United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia K United Nations United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations United Nations Mission in Liberia United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Liberia United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia United Nations Police United Nations Security Council Resolution Women in Peacebuilding Network

7 Table of Contents 1. Introduction Research Background Research Motivation Research Question Research Method Outline of the Thesis Literature Review Women s role in Peacekeeping Arguments for more female participation Critics of arguments for more female participation What is Effectiveness? Case Study Background Information Civil War in Liberia History Women within the Civil War Creation and Development of UNMIL UNPOL before the All-Female Unit The All-Female Indian Unit Existing Studies on the Impact of the All-female Indian Unit Sexual Assault in Liberia and the All-female Indian Unit Sexual Assault in Liberia Sexual Exploitation and Abuse within UNMIL The Effect of the All-female Unit Different Perceptions of female peacekeepers and local women Policy Recommendations Conclusion Bibliography Annex Tables Figures Maps... 90

8 1. Introduction Again and again, the reputation of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions is undermined by peacekeepers that sexually violate and assault the population they were sent to protect. One of the most recent cases of sexual abuse, which took place in the Central African Republic, was widely made public in the beginning of last year. On 05. December 2016, the UN reported that it had concluded the investigations concerning sexual assault allegations against peacekeepers from Burundi and Gabon, but final prosecution lies with the governments of these two countries. 1 With the UN having its hands bound in regards to the prosecution of perpetrators among peacekeepers and the zero-tolerance policy 2 on sexual exploitation and abuse seemingly being ignored in many UN peacekeeping missions, policymakers and researchers are looking for other possible options on how to prevent sexual assault from occurring right from the start. That is where women come into play. In a speech at a peacekeeping summit, UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie demanded to increase the amount of female peacekeepers because peacekeeping forces can only gain and keep the trust of local populations if they are able to engage with women as well as men in that community 3. But currently, female representation in peacekeeping is extremely low even though women are disproportionally affected by war and conflict. This is an issue that the UN has been tackling for many years. Therefore, this thesis will try to analyze to what extent an increased 1 The Guardian, United Nations widens sex abuse inquiry into peacekeepers in CAR, March 21, 2016, (accessed December 07, 2016); and UN News Centre, Central African Republic, December 05, 2016, 31/united-nations-widens-sex-abuse-inquiry-peacekeepers-central-african-republic-car (accessed December 07, 2016). 2 The zero tolerance policy is supposed to prevent any kind of sexual contact, be it forced or willingly, between peacekeepers and the local population. For more information see: SG Kofi A. Annan, ST/SGB/2003/13, Secretary-General s Bulletin, UN Secretariat, October 09, Alice Ross, Angelina Jolie says UN undermined by sexual abuse by peacekeepers, The Guardian, September 08, 2016, (accessed December 07, 2016). 1

9 percentage of female peacekeepers can prevent sexual assault from occurring, and will try to understand whether female peacekeepers can actually prevent their male colleagues from committing sexual exploitation and abuse Research Background The Women, Peace and Security Agenda Since peacekeeping mission started all the way back in , women have only made up a very small number of the military or police forces that were deployed into conflict regions. Civilians, in general, are the ones threatened the most by war and conflict, and while women make up a majority of casualties, they have been extremely underrepresented in the actual peace process. 5 In the 90s women made up about 1 percent 6 of deployed personnel, and around the same time demands for the inclusion of more women in peace operations became louder and were eventually heard in 2000 when the Windhoek Declaration and the Namibia Plan of Action were introduced. 7 They called for action to be taken in regards to the gender balance and gender equality at all levels of peacekeeping missions. 8 Most noticeably, by 2015 a 50/50 representation was to be reached. 9 In October of the same year the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1325, which is seen as the blueprint for gender and peacekeeping work for the Department of Peacekeeping 4 UN Peacekeeping, Peacekeeping Fact Sheet, August 31, 2016, statistics/factsheet.shtml (accessed November 17, 2016). 5 According to UN Women, it is estimated that civilians make up to 90 percent of the casualties in war and conflict. UN Women, Women and Armed Conflict Fact Sheet No. 5, June, 2000, (accessed December 07, 2016). 6 UN Peacekeeping, Women in Peacekeeping, 2016, womeninpk.shtml (accessed November 17, 2016). 7 Francesco Bertolazzi, Women with a Blue Helmet The integration of Women and Gender Issues in UN Peacekeeping Missions (Santo Domingo: UN-INSTRAW, 2010), 8; Olivera Simic, Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?, International Peacekeeping, 17 no. 2 (2010): Bertolazzi, Women with a Blue Helmet, 8. 9 UN Security Council, S/2000/693 Security Council Report, July 14, 2000, 3; and Bertolazzi, Women with a Blue Helmet, 8. 2

10 Operations (DPKO). 10 Resolution 1325 was the first to initially address how armed conflicts impact women in a different way than men; thus it emphasizes the importance of women s participation in all steps of a peace process, from negotiations to the signature of a peace agreement. 11 The resolution also encourages the UN member states to include more females, and thereby a gender perspective, in peace operations. In the following years the UN Security Council passed another seven resolutions, including United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1820, UNSCR 1888, UNSCR 1889, UNSCR 1960, UNSCR 2106, UNSCR 2122, and UNSCR These resolutions either reinforce the call for more female participation in peace building or focus on the effects sexual exploitation and abuse have on the overall outcome of the peacekeeping missions. 12 UNSCR 1820, which was adopted in June 2008, explicitly links sexual violence as a tactic of war with women, peace and security issues 13, this resolution thus urges the member states to make sure that their troops are properly trained so they can guard the local population in an adequate manner from sexual violence. 14 Resolution 1888 from September 2009, repeats that peacekeeping missions have to handle sexual violence in a proper way, and demands that the Secretary-General appoint a Special Representative to provide coherent and strategic leadership, [ ] in order to address [ ] sexual violence in armed conflict. 15 With the exception of UNSCR 1889, 2122, and 2242, the rest of the resolutions put the main focus on how to protect women from sexual assault and on how to prevent such assaults from occurring. 16 Resolutions 1889 and 2122 address women s participation in the peace building process, with UNSCR UN Peacekeeping, Women, Peace and Security, 2016, wps.shtml (accessed November 17, 2016). 11 Bertolazzi, Women with a Blue Helmet, UN Security Council, S/RES/1325, Security Council Resolution, October 31, 2000, 2; Paul Kirby and Laura J. Shepherd, The futures past of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, International Affairs, 2 (2016): 379f; Bertolazzi, Women with a Blue Helmet, 8f. 13 UN Peacekeeping, Women, Peace and Security, UN Security Council, S/RES/1820, Security Council Resolution, June 19, 2008, 2f. 15 UN Security Council, S/RES/1888, Security Council Resolution, September 30, 2009, For more information on UNSCR 1960 and 2106 see UN Security Council, S/RES/1960, Security Council Resolution, December 16, 2010 and UN Security Council, S/RES/2106, Security Council Resolution, June 24, 2013 respectively. 3

11 stating that the underrepresentation of women is a result of violence and intimidation, lack of security and lack of rule of law, cultural discrimination and stigmatization, [ ] and socioeconomic factors [ ] 17. As a consequence, the Secretary-General is asked to present a report, which addresses women s participation and inclusion in peacebuilding and planning in the aftermath of conflict 18. The most noticeable thing in resolution 2122 is that the Security Council confronts its own behavior and points out that there is a need for consistent implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) in its own work 19. The resolution also requested that a High-level Review was to be completed in 2015 in order to find out how the implementation of UNSCR 1325 had progressed. The findings of the review will be presented in the following section titled 15 years after UNSCR 1325 A Reflection. For now, it should only be said that the review was followed by resolution 2242, which bases its requests on the findings of the Global Study. 20 More than 15 years after the first resolution on Women, Peace and Security was released, the UN is still dealing with many reports of their peacekeepers being involved in sexual abuse cases; and in 2014, women still only made up about 3 percent 21 of the military personnel and 10 percent 22 of the police personnel in UN peace operations. And even when we use the most recent gender statistics provided by the UN for March this year, the percentage of women participation has not really changed. For military personnel, women make up about 3.5 percent, and for police personnel, it is 9.8 percent. 23 It is not clear whether the amount of women in police personnel decreased or if the percentage for 2014 was just rounded in a different way. However, these 17 UN Security Council, S/RES/1889, Security Council Resolution, October 05, 2009, UN Security Council, S/RES/1889, UN Security Council, S/RES/2122, Security Council Resolution, October 18, 2013, UN Security Council, S/RES/2242, Security Council Resolution, October 13, 2015; and UN Security Council, S/RES/2122, 5f. 21 UN Peacekeeping, Women in Peacekeeping, UN Peacekeeping, Women in Peacekeeping, The actual numbers for these percentages are: military personnel 85,811 in total with 2,989 women, and police personnel 11,963 with 1,177 women. The detailed listing of the gender statistics for August 2016 can be found in the Annex under Table 1 on page 85f. UN, Gender Statistics by Mission, April 10, 2017, (accessed May 01, 2017). 4

12 numbers raise questions about where the Women, Peace and Security agenda is still facing issues and the following section will attempt to provide some answers. 15 years after UNSCR 1325 A Reflection In October 2015, the Security Council convened a High-level Review for the 15 th anniversary of UNSCR 1325 in order to assess the progress the Women, Peace and Security agenda had made since its initiation. In order for the review to be productive a Global Study was requested under the lead of Radhika Coomaraswamy, the former Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. He was supported by a 17 member Advisory Group, which in the end presented a study titled Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing the Peace. Overall the study has come up with a mostly negative conclusion on the success of implementing UNSCR The subsequent paragraphs will first look at some of the findings of the Global Study and its recommendations, and then contemplate criticisms of the Women, Peace and Security agenda that have been raised by individual scholars. 24 According to the study, one of the main issues the agenda has been facing is that while a clear framework on how to react to and handle sexual assault had been developed, prosecution barely ever happens. In addition, the goal of adding more women to all steps in the peace process is virtually as far away as it was when UNSCR 1325 was adopted. This result that can partly be blamed on the fact that so far only of the 193 UN member states have created their own National Action Plans, which are intended to drive the inclusion of women in key aspects of the peace process ahead at the national level as well. Some of the countries that have adopted a 24 Torunn L. Tryggestad, The Women, Peace and Security Agenda 15 Years On, Policy Brief, PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security, 20Peace%20and%20Security%20Agenda,%20GPS%20Policy%20Brief% pdf (accessed December 06, 2016). 25 At the point in time the study was conducted only 54 UN member states had adopted National Action Plans, since then, however, the number has risen to 63. Tryggestad, The Women, Peace and Security Agenda, 3. 5

13 National Action Plan include Norway, South Sudan, and the United States. 26 The Advisory Group also found that the agenda lacks funding and that extremism should be made one of the central security issues of the agenda since women are once again the ones that are especially threatened. 27 Recommendation wise, the study suggests that on all levels conflict prevention needs to be taken more seriously and should be linked to gender equality. It has been proposed that a Working Group for the Security Council should be created in order to make information available on country-specific gender issues when the Security Council [ ] discusses and adopts mandates for new peace operations. 28 Torunn Tryggestad, Director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo on Gender, Peace and Security, points out that critics believe that getting efficient results from such a group might be difficult, and she herself mentions that funding such a project could be an issue as well. On the topic of lacking funds, the study recommends to reserving a specific portion of available funds for the Women, Peace and Security agenda, which, when needed, can be easily distributed. In order to push forward with the main gender initiative, it is suggested that senior gender advisors should be hired in support of the individual Special Envoys the Secretary-General appoints. According to Tryggestad, the UN member countries seem opposed to creating the position of an Assistant Secretary-General for Women, Peace and Security. Many of these recommendations are forming the base for UNSCR Other scholars such as Paul Kirby and Laura Shepherd point out that the Women, Peace and Security agenda is somewhat lopsided towards the prevention and protection of women from 26 A list of all countries that have adopted a National Action Plan for the Women, Peace and Security agenda can be found in the Annex under Table 3 on page 87f. Peace Women, Member States, Tryggestad, The Women, Peace and Security Agenda. 28 Tryggestad, The Women, Peace and Security Agenda, For all recommendations made by the Global Study see: Radhika Coomaraswamy, Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing the Peace, Global Study, UN Women, /media/files/un%20women/wps/highlights/unw-global-study pdf?v=1&d= t (accessed December 06, 2016). Tryggestad, The Women, Peace and Security Agenda. 6

14 sexual violence, but the participation of women in the peace process is playing a subordinate role. A emphasis on protection and prevention bears the danger of taking away any kind of agenda women have, thus portraying them only as victims that need to be saved. 30 Gina Heathcote agrees with this sentiment and writes that the wording of most of the Women, Peace and Security resolutions is problematic, as it strengthens negative gender stereotypes. 31 Besides criticizing that third-world female vulnerability [ ] becomes the justification for increased first-world women s participation 32, Heathcote also takes issue with the fact that there is no reference to men as a gendered group. 33 She mentions that with later resolutions such as UNSCR 1898 and 2122, the Security Council seems aware that previous Women, Peace and Security resolutions had issues with gender essentialism, but in order to completely move away from that way of thinking the Security Council must acquire a better understanding of women living in conflict situations. As briefly mentioned, a main issue for the UN is that the responsibility to deploy women lies with the member states, and as long as they are not planning to establish National Action Plans on the topic gender equality in peace building, the UN can do nothing besides encouraging and advocating such plans. Kirby and Shepherd suggest the establishment of regional actions plans and localization programs in addition to National Action Plans in order to further the Women, Peace and Security agenda. 34 This section by no means is a whole reflection of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, as that, as we can see in the Global Study, would exceed the limits of this thesis. 30 Kirby and Shepherd, The futures past of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, International Affairs, Gina Heathcote, Participation, Gender and Security, in Rethinking Peacekeeping, Gender Equality and Collective Security, ed. Gina Heathcote and Dianne Otto (USA/UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), Heathcote, Participation, Gender and Security, Heathcote, Participation, Gender and Security, Heathcote, Participation, Gender and Security, 54ff; and Kirby and Shepherd, The futures past of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, International Affairs, 383ff. 7

15 1.2. Research Motivation My interest for the topic of Women, Peace and Security was raised during a forum on women s participation in decision-making processes in the peace and security area at the UN headquarters in Vienna this summer. 35 There I heard a panelist's very passionate reasoning for why women should be included in all aspects of peace building. Maria Zeneid Angara Collinson, the Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the UN in Vienna, said: Women by nature are pacifists, we are peacemakers, peace builders 36. As inspiring as this proclamation is, with progressing research it has become obvious that it also carries many hidden meanings. The most remarkable being that if women by nature are pacifists, then where does that leave men? As the sole aggressors? Therefore, it would be of interest to analyze whether female participation in the peace building process can be advanced without reinforcing traditional gender stereotypes Research Question This thesis aims to answer the research question as to whether increasing female peacekeepers helps prevent sexual abuses from occurring by conducting a case study on the allfemale Indian unit, which was stationed in Liberia from 2007 to The main focus of the case study will be to analyze what effect the all-female unit had on sexual assault and on sexual exploitations committed by male peacekeepers. Since sexual assault, sexual exploitation, and abuse by peacekeepers are very delicate topics, and data is not sufficiently available, this thesis will also observe other effects the all-female Indian unit had throughout its deployment. 35 For more information on the Women Higher Education for Peace Vienna Forum please see the following: UNODA, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation NP Education Partnership, 2016, index.php (accessed December 07, 2016). 36 I was able to attend the Vienna Forum as I was writing an article about the Forum for my internship with the UN Information Service. The statement by Ms. Collinson has been published in a magazine called The Austrian Peacekeeper in an article written by myself. Maria Klinner, Frauen für den Frieden, [Women for Peace] The Austrian Peacekeeper 4, August/September, 2016, p9. 8

16 1.4. Research Method This chapter will first provide a brief introduction into qualitative and quantitative research. Following this, the author of this thesis will justify why this particular thesis will adopt a qualitative approach, more precisely a case study, and explain the kind of literature that will be used while conducting the research. According to Jennifer Mason qualitative research is not a unified set of techniques or philosophies, [ ] [as it] has grown out of a wide range of intellectual and disciplinary traditions. 37 The traditions qualitative research has grown out of include amongst others cultural studies, sociology, linguistics, and anthropology. Through a range of research techniques, methods and practices, the qualitative approach can be an immense help when trying to explain or understand the social world. 38 Quantitative research on the other hand permits the researcher to draw inferences about reality based on the data at hand and the laws of probability. 39 This ability allows researchers to test how consistent theory created prospects are with reality and it helps with developing new theoretical expectations. 40 Applying a qualitative approach seems to be the most feasible after taking a look at the preexisting literature, which will be introduced in the next chapter. The existing research is mostly qualitative including methods such as interviews, surveys, case studies, different ways of data collections, and analysis. The main theories consulted to understand the findings were feminism and gender studies. For example, Debbie Horsfall and Donna Bridges, who interviewed female 37 Jennifer Mason, Introduction: The Challenge of Qualitative Research, in Qualitative Researching, ed. Jennifer Mason (London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 2002), Mason, Introduction: The Challenge of Qualitative Research, Bear F. Braumoeller and Anne E. Sartori, Empirical-Quantitative approaches to the Study of International Relations, in Cases, Numbers, Models: International Relations Research Methods, ed. Delef F. Sprinz and Yael Wolinsky (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2002), Braumoeller and Sartori, Empirical-Quantitative approaches to the Study of International Relations,

17 soldiers from the Australian Defence Force, indicate that they preferred the qualitative way, as it provided them with the possibility of a more in-depth investigation. They agree that a quantitative approach would have provided them with a broader idea of what female peacekeepers think, but they claim that the result would have been rather superficial. 41 Horsfall and Bridges believe that a smaller sample makes the findings richer, deeper, and more significant. 42 Something that should be noted, is that most of the interviews and surveys only targeted female peacekeepers, male colleagues were only referenced or cited by the interviewees, and the opinions of the local population can only be speculate on due to the behavior they have shown. Male voices are usually only heard in the form of higher ups or policy makers. It could be a consideration for future researchers to also interview male peacekeepers and the local populations. Jennings did conduct a rather comprehensive field study, which included peacekeepers, civilian personnel and local residents of both genders, but it solely focused on the issue of sexual exploitation and abuse, and didn't directly address the question whether women can make peace operations more effective. 43 Theory wise policymakers seem to be favoring a functionalist approach, also called the operational-effectiveness argument. 44 This approach basically says that (i) women bring something to PKOs that men do not, and (ii) this contributes to more effective operations 45. As will be discussed more in-depth in the following section there is not enough evidence to 100 percent dismiss or support this approach, but the reliance and reinforcement of traditional gender 41 Donna Bridges and Debbie Horsfall, Increasing operational effectiveness in UN peacekeeping, Armed Forces & Society 36 (2009), Bridges and Horsfall, Increasing operational effectiveness in UN peacekeeping, Armed Forces & Society, Kathleen M. Jennings, Protecting Whom? Approaches to sexual exploitation and abuse in UN peacekeeping operations, Fafo Report, (accessed December 06, 2016). 44 Kathleen Jennings mentions that the operational-effectiveness argument seems to be popular with practitioners and policymakers because they have a job they need to get done, while a researcher's job is to think critical about the things they are presented, thus making them the main critics of the operational-effectiveness argument. Kathleen M. Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations: agents of change or stranded symbols?, Report, Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre, s% 20participation%20in%20UN%20peacekeeping.pdf. (accessed December 03, 2016), Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, 4. 10

18 stereotypes are worrisome. As the main arguments used in support of increased female participation have the potential to be harmful in regards to broader gender equality. According to feminism, a certain gender order is created when gender and security are linked in an all too easy manner. This critique is brushed off by supporters of the functionalist approach as exaggerated and hindering. In their view, the main goal, for now, is to add as many women to peace operations as possible, and if a polarizing narrative has to be used to convince the people that have decisive powers in this topic then that is the way it is. In Kathleen Jennings' eyes there is truth to both arguments, and as long as the discussion is conducted in a productive way, it will contribute to the further development of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. 46 An approach that keeps being sidelined is the rights-based argument, it is seen as less convincing because it essentially states that women's participation in peace operations should not be questioned, participation in peacekeeping should be a right that doesn't need any further justification. Seeing something as a given right makes it hard to base a comprehensive argumentation on because people can disagree with the notion of participation in peacekeeping being a women's right but they cannot disprove it. 47 Within the literature that is currently known to the author of this thesis there are only a few research papers that have used a qualitative approach. All of them have Sabrina Karim either as the main or co-author. In the paper Explaining sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions: The role of female peacekeepers and gender equality in Contributing countries, Sabrina Karim and Kyle Beardsley used a binomial regression model to find out whether sexual exploitation and abuse is influenced by the number of women present in a peacekeeping mission, 46 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, 4; Saskia Stachowitsch, Feminism and the Current Debates on Women in Combat, E-International Relations, February 19, 2013, (accessed December 06, 2016); and Sabrina Karim and Kyle Beardsley, Female Peacekeepers and Gender Balancing Token Gestures or Informed Policymaking?, International Interactions 39 (2013): 471f. 47 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, 4. 11

19 and the level of gender equality in the countries the peacekeepers are coming from. While the findings show support for the influence both variables have on sexual exploitation and abuse, the results are not robustly statistically significant. 48 Karim and Beardsley argue that at the point of their study the number of women in peace operations was still small, which could be one of the reasons why the results are not conclusive. On the other hand, more support is found for the influence peacekeeping troops from countries with a better gender equality have on sexual abuse. 49 Karim s other two papers: The Double-Edged Sword of Security Sector Gender Balancing Reforms: Survey Evidence from Liberia and Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness: Does Gender Neutrality Inhibit Progress? first conducted representative cross-sectional random cluster surveys and then used logistic regressions to analysis their findings. The findings of these studies will be presented at a later point within this thesis. In conclusion, it can be said that more systematic research is needed, especially on how female peacekeepers might perform differently than their male counterparts. As mentioned in the pervious section, researchers should conduct interviews or surveys with male colleagues and the civilians they are supposed to protect, not just the female peacekeepers. Seeing how this thesis is limited in space, financially, and is lacking connections to peacekeepers and the local residents of a conflict region, it would be most feasible to conduct a case study on the all-female Indian peacekeeping unit, which was stationed within UNMIL. This specific unit was chosen because it was the first all-female unit to be deployed by the UN. The aim will be to analyze how this particular unit affected sexual assault rates and the occurrence of sexual exploitation and abuse by male peacekeepers. 48 Karim and Beardsley, Explaining sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions, Journal of Peace Research, Karim and Beardsley, Explaining sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions, Journal of Peace Research,

20 Looking at the literature available on the all-female Indian unit and female peacekeepers within UNMIL a couple different case studies by researchers like Sabrina Karim, and Laura Huber stand out. Some of their findings will be discussed in more detail at the end of chapter 3. For now the author of this thesis would like to explain why a case study was chosen as the method for this particular research. When trying to define what a case study actually is, things can get somewhat tricky as many researchers tend to focus on the different aspects of a case study. John Gerring sums up the most common explanations like this: To refer to a work as a case study might mean (a) that its method is qualitative, small-n [ ]; (b) that the research is ethnographic, clinical, participant-observation, or otherwise in the field [ ]; (c) that the research is characterized by process-tracing [ ]; (d) that the research investigates the properties of a single case [ ]; or (e) that the research investigates a single phenomenon, instance, or example (the most common usage). 50 But Gerring argues that none of these definitions get to the gist of case studies, and thus he provides his own definition, which regards a case study as an intense study of a single unit with an aim to generalize across a larger set of units. 51 He then argues that a case study can contain only one case or up to a very large number of cases, with the exception that a one unit case study should not focus on only one specific point in time, but should instead focus on the before and after, thus, creating two units within that one case. 52 Gerring as well as Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett point out that case studies are mostly questioned because they seem to be lacking a certain amount of representativeness. Because how can one case stand for a series of other cases? According to George and Bennett generalizing is actually one of the goals of case studies, and to Gerring, case studies just come 50 John Gerring, What is a Case Study and What is it Good for? American Political Science Review, Vol. 98 No. 2 (May 2004): Gerring, What is a Case Study? American Political Science Review, Gerring, What is a Case Study? American Political Science Review, 343f. 13

21 with tradeoffs, because in turn the researcher gets an in-depths analysis, which is way more detailed than some quantitative methods. 53 Since sexual assault is such a grey area, especially within the UN peacekeeping missions, it appears most feasible to conduct a case study in order to get an in-depth analysis of the issue. The all-female Indian unit was selected as a case because it was the first ever unit of its kind. Thus drawing extensive media attention and thereby coverage. An initial idea of comparing the allfemale unit to a mix gender or all-male unit has since been discarded as information on a specific peacekeeping unit is hard to come by when the unit concerned is not all-female. Not to mention that different mission mandates might make a direct comparison rather questionable. This obviously does not mean that one case cannot stand for several other cases, since here the focus is not on whether the unit is better than other units but to gauge what effect the chosen unit has and what we can learn from it. The author is aware that obtaining sexual assault rates is a difficult endeavor to begin with, and that it will be especially hard for a country that went through years of conflict and only recently started to stabilize. Therefore, the last part of Chapter 3, which will introduce the allfemale Indian unit and provide background information on why the UN set up a peacekeeping mission in Liberia, will focus on what kind of effects the all-female unit and other female peacekeepers within UNMIL had in general. Chapter 4 will then analyze the unit s effect on sexual assault, especially on sexual assault committed by male peacekeepers, and provide some policy suggestions. In order to conduct this case study a detailed document, literature, and media review will be done. Throughout the research several different kinds of literature will be consulted. The author 53 Gerring, What is a Case Study? American Political Science Review, 348; Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Science (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2001),

22 will make sure that the used literature is in accordance with high-quality research standards. The consulted literature will include official documents and reports from the UN, media reports and press interviews with the all-female Indian unit, gender and sexual assault statistics, the previously mentioned case studies, and journal articles Outline of the Thesis This thesis is composed of five chapters, including an introductory chapter, a Literature Review (chapter 2), and the Conclusion (Chapter 5). After the first two chapters the author will present chapters on the background of the case study chosen for this research (chapter 3), and on sexual assault in Liberia and the effect of the All-female Indian Unit (chapter 4). This thesis will end with the Conclusion (chapter 5). All chapters have been arranged in a manner that will make it easier for readers to follow along and quickly find desired information. Literature Review The literature review focuses on how to justify the inclusion of more women in peacekeeping missions. Sources available are not sufficient to make solid statements for the pro or contra side and more in-depth research is needed. For instance, the argument for more female peacekeeping forces is made based on the idea that women are natural peace-lovers. This however is essentialist and implies that men cannot possibly be peace-loving, currently best conclusion that can be given, is that peacekeeping missions need to be gender sensitive, and people should not be deployed because of skills that are solely attributed to them because of their gender. Since effectiveness is a main argument for adding more women into peacekeeping missions this chapter will also provide a glimpse at what effectiveness within a UN peacekeeping mission actually 15

23 entails. The troops in the fields are only one of several factors that can influence success immensely. Case Study Background Information This chapter will provide detailed background information as to why the UN decided to send a peacekeeping mission to Liberia. Starting from the causes of the long lasting civil war this chapter will also introduce the role female Liberians played during the war. Before the UN s first ever all-female unit is introduced, section three and four of this chapter will explain the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the role the United Nations Police (UNPOL) plays within this peacekeeping mission. UNPOL is of special interest since the allfemale unit is actually a so called Formed Police Unit (FPU). The all-female Indian unit was deployed to UNMIL in the beginning of 2007 and was accompanied by a lot of media attention, which gives extensive insight into how people perceived the unit and how it perceived itself. After some initial problems, the unit became engaged in many community projects and was celebrated as a success story by the time it ended its deployment in Since the unit is credited with having had lots of influence on local women, the last sections of this chapter will introduce three studies that had a focus on the effects of either the all-female unit or female peacekeepers within UNMIL in general. The all-female unit definitely had a hand in opening up the security sector to local females, but many additional effects were reduced by different barriers. One main barrier was their limited access to the local communities, an all-female unit is usually restricted to a certain region, and the unit is not necessarily stationed where it is most needed. 16

24 Sexual Assault in Liberia and the All-female Indian Unit The last main chapter of this thesis will provide an overview of the situation in regards to sexual assault in Liberia. It will attempt to explain why increasing numbers of sexual assault cases are actually seen as a good thing, and why the battle with sexual assault is not over yet. The second section talks about sexual exploitation and abuse by UNMIL peacekeepers, and introduces as study that found transactional sex between peacekeepers and young local women seemed to be a norm rather than an exception. Subsequently, the next section will connect what we know about the all-female unit with the information that has been previously provided in this chapter in order to gauge whether any effect can be established for the all-female unit. In regards to sexual assault in general, the all-female unit s advocacy of institutional change in connection to gender equality and female empowerment can be seen as a major influence. No proof could be found to support the argument that more female peacekeepers prevent their male colleagues from committing sexual exploitation and abuse. The fourth section of this chapter will develop a new theory for future research. Based on the claim that the local population perceives local and foreign women in a different way, the author wonders whether a similar difference in perception is also possible for male peacekeepers. The chapter will finish with policy recommendations on how female peacekeepers can help prevent sexual assault in general, and how the UN can counter sexual exploitation and abuse among peacekeepers. Conclusion The Conclusion will provide a comprehensive summary of the main findings of this thesis, and argue why the rights-based argument is better suited to back up increased female participation in peacekeeping than the effective-based approach. This thesis will come full circle with recommendations on how to train peacekeepers on gender equality and research 17

25 recommendations about how the UN can ensure that troop supplying countries to send more women. 18

26 2. Literature Review This chapter will introduce the arguments used to back up an increased participation of female peacekeepers. Since many of these arguments rely on traditional gender stereotypes the following section will explain why some arguments might not be able to prevail. The criticism is not meant to deny that more women are needed in peacekeeping missions, it points out that the way female peacekeepers are portrayed right now might not be the most effective one. Since one of the most popular arguments in favor of increased female participation is increased mission effectiveness, the end of this chapter will give a short introduction into what that actually entails. But before the author will briefly define a couple of the most important terms when talking about peacekeeping, such as peace, peacemaking, and peacebuilding. This short section will then be followed by a short introduction into the topic of women and security. It is hoped that these two sections will create a base for understanding the main discussion of this thesis. Peace, Peacemaking and Peacebuilding According to the Dictionary of International Relations peace describes the absence of war, 54 and is one of the three states world politics can assume, with the other two being war and non-war. War is defined as direct, somatic violence between state actors, 55 while non-war implies that even though no actual fighting is occurring a tension still exists between the conflict parties and this tension dictates how the involved parties handle their relations. The most prominent example for a state of non-war in recent history would be the Cold War era. 56 Hence, 54 Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, The Penguin Dictionary of International Relations (London: Penguin Book, 1998), Evans and Newnham, Dictionary of International Relations, Evans and Newnham, Dictionary of International Relations,

27 the absence of organized armed conflict is a necessary, but by no means sufficient, part of the definition of peace. 57 Peacemaking, according to former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, is the responsibility to try to bring hostile parties to agreement by peaceful means. 58 These means can be found in Chapter VI of the Charter of the United Nations, which states that: The parties to any dispute, [ ] shall, first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice. 59 In short, peacemaking aims to avoid conflict by negotiating with all parties involved in a conflict. Peacemaking can be the work of envoys of Governments, groups of States, regional organizations or the United Nations. 60 In addition, pacemakers can also be individuals or nongovernmental groups. Moving on to peacebuilding, this term was also defined by former Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali in a report titled An Agenda for Peace. In this report, peacebuilding is an action to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict. 61 Boutros-Ghali emphasized that it no longer was enough to end violence, because it was and is necessary to focus on post-conflict reconstruction, including a stronger institutional and structural approach. 62 In the following years, the definition has been rephrased and extended. For example, the Secretary-General s Policy Committee defined peacebuilding as: 57 Evans and Newnham, Dictionary of International Relations, SG Boutros Boutros-Ghali, A/47/277, Report by the Secretary-General, June 17, 1992, (accessed May 25, 2017). 59 United Nations, Charter of the United Nations Chapter VI, 2017, (accessed May 25, 2017). 60 Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, A/55/305, Report, August 21, 2000, 2, /search/view_doc.asp?symbol=a/55/305, (accessed May 25, 2017). 61 SG Boutros-Ghali, A/47/277, Idris Evans et al. A Conceptual Model of Peacebuilding and Democracy Building: Integrating the Fields, Practicum Group, 2013, 1, (accessed May 25, 2017). 20

28 A range of measures targeted to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management, and to lay the foundation for sustainable peace and development. Peacebuilding strategies must be coherent and tailored to the specific needs of the country concerned, based on national ownership, and should comprise a carefully prioritized, sequenced, and relatively narrow set of activities aimed at achieving the above objectives. 63 Today peace building is a very diverse field, which can be defined through a variety of different theories. These theories include but are not limited to the institutional development theory, root causes theory, and the withdrawal of the resources for war theory. The institutional development theory states that peace can be ensured through resilient institutions, while the root causes theory focuses on the issues that originally caused the war or conflict to start. The withdrawal of the resources for war theory claims that peace can be achieved once weapons and other tools that support fighting are no longer supplied. As a consequence fighting should then cease. 64 Each of these theories [including theories that have not been mentioned in this thesis] captures an important conflict dynamic, [but] none of them on their own is able to create large-scale sustainable change. 65 This means in order for peacebuilding to be successful it needs an approach that includes all individual theories. Currently such an approach does not exist but frameworks have been created that try to approach peacebuilding with a more complex mindset. 66 One example is the conflict transformation approach by John Paul Lederach, which views peace as inseparable from justice, respect for human rights, and the practice of nonviolence as a way of life. 67 Lederach points out that all actors within a conflict need to be involved in the process of peace building. It is also important to focus not only on security and stabilization but also on 63 UN Peacebuilding Fund, What is Peacebuilding? 2017, (accessed May 25, 2017). 64 Evans et al. A Conceptual Model of Peacebuilding, Evans et al. A Conceptual Model of Peacebuilding,, Evans et al. A Conceptual Model of Peacebuilding, 3f. 67 Evans et al. A Conceptual Model of Peacebuilding, 2. 21

29 justice, politics, and socio-economic issues; and not only on institutions, but also on psychosocial dynamics such as forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation. 68 This is obviously only a very short glimpse into the broad field of peace, peacemaking, and peacebuilding, and way more can be said on these topics, but in order to stay to not derail too far from the main topic of this thesis this short introduction will be cut off at this point. Women and Security Throughout history, women have been regarded as the main caretakers and in regards to war, they usually had supporting roles from within their homes and never really actively participated in combat. But women did have one role within war, in which they were seen as spoils of war. 69 This meant that sexual assault was seen as an injury the male estate, and not the woman herself. 70 In addition, women have been and many times still are seen as unfit for active combat and thus, pushed into the role of the victim that is in need of protection from a male actor. But in some cases, women can be the specific targets of sexual violence. Because of this mindset, women have been denied honors and respect that are given to people, usually men, that risked their lives in conflicts. But in recent decades women movements increased and started to call for the inclusion of women in the military. Participation in combat situations is argued to be a right that women should have, and some even say that this right will improve the situation of women in general. Historical accounts tend to focus on men and their roles in war, which creates the impression that women did not participate in war. But this kind of impression has been seeing 68 Evans et al. A Conceptual Model of Peacebuilding, Caroline Kennedy, Gender and Security, in Contemporary Security Studies, ed. Alan Collins (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, Third Edition), Kennedy, Gender and Security,

30 change with more and more accounts emerging that recount how women actively participated in war. These accounts among others show women as soldiers, nurses, and cooks. 71 In recent years the perspective that women are the sole victims of sexual violence in war has changed with current research pointing out that it is possible for women to be perpetrators of sexual violence as well. It is implied that in past studies the researchers just assumed the perpetrators to be men and thus, did not bother to clarify the aggressor s gender. But as soon as researchers did ask numerous reports of female perpetrators were revealed to them. 72 Reasons for such behavior by women could be that female members of armed groups may be subjected to the same pressure as their male peers to perpetrate sexual violence, 73 and that they might seek to conform to norms of strength and masculinity within their armed groups. 74 While there seem to be more female aggressors than researcher initially thought, it is hard to arrange sexual assault by females, mixed gender groups, and males in an order. This obviously does not mean that women are not still the ones that suffer the most under wartime sexual violence. And it should also be noted that cases in which women are the perpetrators could receive more media attention because they come with a certain shock factor. In connection to women being perpetrators, it should also be mentioned that men can be victims of sexual violence as well and that this is a topic that needs more attention from researchers. 75 In conclusion, it can be said that in regards to security gender has to be taken into consideration because the way men and women act or react may be a product of sexual differences but may be a product of gender, while at the same time it is also a product of 71 Kennedy, Gender and Security, 119ff. 72 Dara K. Cohen, Ameila Hoover Green and Elisabeth J. Wood: Wartime Sexual Violence: Misconceptions, Implications and Ways Forward, United States Institute of Peace, February, 2013, 4f. 73 Cohen, Hoover Green and Wood: Wartime Sexual Violence, Cohen, Hoover Green and Wood: Wartime Sexual Violence, Cohen, Hoover Green and Wood: Wartime Sexual Violence, 5f. 23

31 circumstance. 76 As with the previous section, this is only meant as a short introduction into the thematic of women and security, and should by no means be seen as a whole discussion of the topic. But now this thesis will be returning to its main topic Women s role in Peacekeeping Arguments for more female participation Throughout the existing literature several arguments in support of the increased participation of females in peacekeeping missions reoccur. These arguments include, but are not limited to, the claims that more women in peacekeeping missions will make the operations more successful by preventing violence and sexual assaults, improving the trust between the local population and the soldiers, adding new skills to the table, and encouraging local women to join the peace process. 77 A viewpoint supported by a United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UN DPKO) study concludes that: A final lesson is that women s presence does make a difference. It improves access to the local population. By creating a more normal environment, their presence also tends to improve the behaviour [sic] of male members of the mission. Finally, their presence increases the range of skills, approaches, and perspectives within a mission, thus adding to its effectiveness. 78 The following paragraphs will take a deeper look at the above-mentioned claims and the subsequent section called Critics of arguments for more female participation will see whether these arguments can be taken at face value. In the light of UN peacekeeping missions being connected to numerous sexual assaults, a strong argument for a higher female participation is that women supposedly prevent their male 76 Kennedy, Gender and Security, Among others: Bertolazzi, Women with a Blue Helmet, 17ff; UN DPKO, Package for Peacekeeping Operations, 8; Bridges and Horsfall, Increasing operational effectiveness in UN peacekeeping, Armed Forces & Society, 121; Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, 2ff. 78 UN DPKO, Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Multidimensional Peace Operations (UN DPKO Lessons Learned Unit, 2000),

32 counterparts from engaging in sexual misconduct. Female peacekeepers from Australia revealed in interviews that the brothel workers didn't want [them] there at all because [their] presence meant that Aussie men would shoot off [leave] as soon as they saw [them] 79 and some male soldiers admitted that the males were feral [wild] without females there 80. In connection with sexual violence female soldiers are also said to be less likely to engage in such acts on their own and to be more approachable by victims of sexual assault. Concerning this issue an African female peacekeeper in United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) 81 disclosed that: In Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where the majority of atrocities were committed by men in armed forces, the presence of women facilitates the communication, the information sharing, and problem-solving from the victims. A raped person will feel more confident with a woman rather than a man." 82 It is implied that a growing female presence could reduce the hyper-masculinity usually associated with the military. Female peacekeepers are essentially seen as gentle and less intimidating, which supposedly gives them an advantage when protecting and approaching those that suffer under a conflict. Sometimes it is even implied that male peacekeepers tend to intimidate citizens and cause distrust, which can be countered by the presence of women. 83 The individual experience of female peacekeepers seems to prove them right, as one female Australian soldier stated that [ ] the men were seen as dominators and people to be feared [ ] 79 Bridges and Horsfall, Increasing operational effectiveness in UN peacekeeping, Armed Forces & Society, Bridges and Horsfall, Increasing operational effectiveness in UN peacekeeping, Armed Forces & Society, In the original citation, which was taken from Francesco Bertolazzi s working paper Women with a Blue Helmet, the peacekeeping mission is still called United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). The name was changed to United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in the middle of UN, MONUC Background, 2016, (accessed November 15, 2016). 82 Bertolazzi, Women with a Blue Helmet, Bridges and Horsfall, Increasing operational effectiveness in UN peacekeeping, Armed Forces & Society, 125f; Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, ; Bertolazzi, Women with a Blue Helmet, 17ff; UN DPKO, Gender Resource Package for Peacekeeping Operations; Sabrina Karim and Kyle Beardsley, Explaining sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions, Journal of Peace Research 53 no. 1 (2016):

33 because the women were there the men were seen as approachable. 84 And a gender advisor in the DPKO, Comfort Lamptey, even goes as far as saying that the presence of more women can actually help dilute a macho approach to peacekeeping 85. Besides easing tension, women can also be assets with body searches since men might not be able to do so in Islamic areas or communities. 86 The last main argument takes advantage of the assumption that women peacekeepers interact with local women on a more intimate basis, thus encouraging local females to take part in peace processes. 87 Henry F. Carey, an associate professor of Political Science at Georgia State University, claims that local women are more likely to take part in the peace process when women make up at least 30 percent of the personnel that is deployed to peacekeeping missions. 88 In order for female peacekeepers to make peace operations effective, their view of their roles has to match with the view policy makers have of them. Therefore, female peacekeepers should also consider building trust, preventing rape, and helping with the promotion of female empowerment as part of their roles within a peace operation. This so called self-efficacy is important for actions that have a specific aim because without awareness of the intended effects it is unlikely that the female peacekeepers will be effective. 89 In conclusion, it can be said that "the presence of women peacekeepers contributes to a more effective PKO [peacekeeping operation], 90 but it should not be forgotten that increasing the 84 Bridges and Horsfall, Increasing operational effectiveness in UN peacekeeping, Armed Forces & Society, Barbara Schoetzau, Women Peacekeepers Can Work with Female Victims, Set Example for Male Colleagues, Voice of America, March 2007, (accessed November ). 86 UN News Centre, Interview: Female peacekeepers connect better with women and children, October 31, 2016, (accessed November 17, 2016). 87 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, ; Bridges and Horsfall, Increasing operational effectiveness in UN peacekeeping, Armed Forces & Society, Henry F. Carey, Women and Peace and Security The policy of implementing gender sensitivity norms in peacekeeping, International Peacekeeping 8 (2001). 89 Sabrina Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness: Does Gender Neutrality Inhibit Progress? International Interactions, 2016, 5f. 90 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, 4. 26

34 number of women in missions will undoubtedly aid the effort of the UN to create peacekeeping missions that have more gender equality. The advocate base for increased female participation can, therefore, be split into operational-effectiveness arguments and a rights-based argument. The rights-based argument states that women should have the right to participate in peacekeeping missions, no further questioning needed Critics of arguments for more female participation Critics of the previously mentioned arguments are not claiming that women cannot add value to peacekeeping missions, but they question whether these claims can be tested in reality. Kathleen Jennings, a researcher at the Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies, points out that the recent focus on the operational-effectiveness argument could land its supporters in hot waters should they not be able to provide convincing evidence for their claims. Evidence is somewhat hard to come by at the moment since women only make up 3.4 percent of the military personnel that is currently deployed to peacekeeping missions. But the current thinness of evidence does not preclude the existence of ample evidence of effectiveness in the future. 92 Contrary to this, Jennings claims that the rights-based argument is impenetrable, since one can disagree with the contention that gender equality and representativeness are ends in and of themselves, but one cannot disprove it. 93 Jennings takes a critical look at the existing evidence and indicates that most of it comes from the individual accounts of female peacekeepers. 94 While this does not imply that these accounts are false, it should be considered that there is a possibility that the whole picture is not 91 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations. 92 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, For example, the interviews in the article "Increasing operational effectiveness in UN peacekeeping" by Donna Bridges and Debbie Horsfall were only conducted among female peacekeepers. Bridges and Horsfall, Increasing operational effectiveness in UN peacekeeping, Armed Forces & Society,

35 shown, since views from male colleagues or the local population are mostly missing, further indicating that the current evidence is severely lacking. 95 Several scholars, including Jennings, point out that the presented reasons for including more women in peacekeeping are reinforcing gender stereotypes that it is more about who they are 96 instead of what women do. 97 Women are depicted as the picture-perfect peacekeepers, because they are compassion[nate], empath[ic], asexualized, disciplined and disciplining, connector, consensus-seeker, [ ] mothering. 98 These claims are problematic in a sense, because they 1) ignore the possibility that women might choose to join peacekeeping missions for their own career advantages; 2) assume that a small percentage of females can change the hyper masculine character of the military, instead of adopting to it themselves; and 3) put the burden of fixing the faults with the current peacekeeping mission solely on the shoulders of women. 99 The following paragraphs will take a closer look at these three issues. The first issue is rather straightforward, it is entirely possible that women choose a career in the military for reasons such as "a stable job, a relatively decent salary, the opportunity to challenge themselves" 100, and therefore are not primarily interested in helping the female population in conflict. Kathleen Jennings even hypothesizes that female peacekeepers could think that focusing on women issues might hold back their careers. 101 On the assumption that females will change the overly masculine character of peace operations Jennings and Olivera Simic, a lecturer at the Griffith University in Australia, both take the view that women are more likely to 95 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, 5f. 96 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, ; Bertolazzi, Women with a Blue Helmet, 17ff; UN DPKO, Gender Resource Package for Peacekeeping Operations; Simic, Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?, International Peacekeeping, 195ff. 100 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations. 28

36 fit into the military hypermasculine [sic] environment rather than change it 102. They attribute this to the fact that during training one of the military's main goals is to subdue the individual in order to form a collective. Peacekeeping missions are also highly militarized operations, which include shooting and unarmed combat among other things. Another reason could be that women are a marginalized group in the military and thereby in peacekeeping they might feel the need to fit in with their male colleagues and therefore tolerate or participate in misconduct. Women might also separate themselves from the group in situations in which they suspect misbehavior to occur, not adding any gender sensitivity to the peace operation. 103 As an answer to female peacekeepers or soldiers, in general, adapting male habits, Sabrina Karim and Kyle Beardsley argue that hyper masculinity can, in fact, be challenged. The researchers point out that patriarchal beliefs are not static and can be challenged 104, meaning that behaviors that find their origin in these beliefs are learned, and therefore can be unlearned. In order to have peacekeeping missions with more gender-equality values, Karim and Beardsley suggest having potential peacekeeper troops evaluated on their gender values during the recruitment process. 105 This issue is closely connected to the one that expects female peacekeepers to singlehandedly tackle the continuous problem of sexual violence within peace operations. This way of thinking is harmful, as it removes all responsibility from men and puts it solely onto women. Besides women not being interested in playing the moral police for their male colleagues, researchers agree that a problem that seems to be so deeply rooted within peacekeeping missions should be handled by the institutions in charge of them. In many cases holding peacekeepers 102 Simic, Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?, International Peacekeeping, Simic, Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?, International Peacekeeping, 193f; Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations. 104 Karim and Beardsley, Explaining sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions, Journal of Peace Research, Karim and Beardsley, Explaining sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions, Journal of Peace Research,

37 accountable for their crimes is difficult, since the UN can only banish them from the mission they are deployed to. Prosecution, however, takes place under the jurisdiction of their home countries. Not much is known about these processes and researchers speculate that prosecution is rather lenient if it happens at all. 106 Very recently though, the UN took a step in the right direction when it fired Lt. Gen. Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki, the commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, after peacekeepers under his command failed to react to an attack on a compound that housed civilians. According to witnesses, people were subjected to [ ] gross human rights violations, including [ ] sexual violence. 107 The UN s decision could send the message that commanders, who previously looked the other way when their soldiers committed sexual violence or (as in this case) refused to help, can be held accountable; hopefully changing peace operations for the better. But this way of handling the situation could bring a whole set of new issues with it. Only shortly after the UN announced its decision concerning Lt. Gen. Ondieki the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs harshly criticized the institution and confided that it had started to withdraw its troops from United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan. 108 This behavior could be linked to the claim of scholars that peacekeeping missions with personnel from countries with better developed gender equality seem to perform better. This assumption will be further explained in the final paragraph of this section. Another issue that has to be mentioned is that female peacekeepers do not necessarily appear more trustworthy to local women just because they are women. It is entirely possible that, as 106 It should be noted that the UN tries to hold peacekeepers accountable through the Model Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was developed in It requires the deploying countries to inform the UN about the process of prosecutions. Simic, Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?, International Peacekeeping, 192ff; Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations. 107 Chandrika Narayan, UN commander fired over peacekeepers response in South Sudan, CNN, November 01, 2016, (accessed November 10, 2016). 108 Al Jazeera News, Kenya withdraws troops from UN mission in South Sudan, November 03, 2016, (accessed November 10, 2016). 30

38 Norwegian female peacekeepers disclosed, people react to their uniform not their sex 109. In contrast, a female United Nations Police officer from Ghana stated that women in uniform generally serve as role models to other women. 110 This would mean that local women are either scared away by the uniform or inspired by it. It should also be noted that it is entirely possible that foreign women may have an ambiguous gender status in the host country, 111 because they grew up in a different country with different races and religions, and thus, are considered to not be privy to the social constructs within the local community. This especially applies to anything related to gender. Female peacekeepers have different upbringings and their contact with men, in societies where it is frowned upon to have unrelated men and women interact, could lead to foreign women not fitting into local definitions of femininity. In that case, female peacekeepers would not add anything feminine to the mission, which would mean that in this instance sending more women into the field would do little for the overall success of the peace operation. 112 It is also worth mentioning that in many cases peacekeepers do not regularly interact with the local population. This can occur, but is not limited to the job the individual holds or the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which could set the rule that peacekeepers and locals should not interact with each other. However, it is a fact that the "segregation between peacekeepers [ ] and locals is increasingly characteristic of UN peacekeeping missions, 113 as confirmed by a female peacekeeper from Jordan: The biggest problem is the restriction on women. We don't see anything here because we cannot leave (the base). (we want) just an exchange in culture and thought. We came here to know people from other countries, not just about us Simic, Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?, International Peacekeeping, Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions, Sabrina Karim, The Double-Edged Sword of Security Sector Gender Balancing Reforms: Survey Evidence From Liberia, PhD Thesis, Emory University, Simic, Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?, International Peacekeeping, 195; Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations. ; Karim, The Double-Edged Sword, 13ff. 113 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions,

39 It also seems that female peacekeepers are sent to missions that are considered safer than other missions even though their help might be needed more on the more dangerous missions. Again a point would be reached at which the increased presence of females will not change how the operation influences the locals or the overall outcome. 115 The UN's first all-female peacekeeping unit from India, deployed to Liberia, received many praises for encouraging local women to join the local police force, but critics pointed out that all female units reinforce segregation from male colleagues, which does not comply with the goals set by UNSCR Simic writes that it remains to be seen whether all female units will have a positive or negative effect on mixed gender units. 116 Returning to the previous conclusion that none of these critic points mean that women will not have a positive influence on peace operations, researchers seem to agree that more research is needed in order to draw a sound conclusion. Currently, the most effective solution for successful peacekeeping missions appears to be gender sensitive operations. This means that while it is important to increase the number of women in field missions and as decision makers, they should not just be added to meet a certain quota. According to Jennings feminists have been criticizing the so-called "add [women] and stir" 117 method for quite some time now. 118 In their opinion reaching a certain number of females in a mission or unit will not tell us anything about the impact they have on the overall mission, no matter whether the focus lies on male colleagues or the local population. Overall a point should be reached at which both genders are free from any kind of social norm. A goal that could be achieved when the value of gender equality is cultivated among peacekeepers, missions with more peacekeepers from countries with more gender equality 115 Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, ; Bertolazzi, Women with a Blue Helmet, 18; Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions, Simic, Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?, International Peacekeeping, 195; Schoetzau, Women Peacekeepers Can Work with Female Victims, Voice of America, Simic, Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?, International Peacekeeping, Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations. 32

40 tend to have fewer cases of sexual assault. In the effort to create more equality between the genders it should not be forgotten that gender is not the only thing that makes or breaks peacekeeping What is Effectiveness? A reoccurring argument for increased female representation in peacekeeping is that they apparently make peacekeeping operations more efficient, but what does efficient mean? Obviously the main goal for peace operations is to end conflicts and reestablish long-lasting peace, but efficiency will be different form mission to mission, since individual missions all have different mandates and objectives to fulfill. This section of the Literature Review will therefore give a short summary of some of the most important criteria that make a peace operation more efficient and hence, more successful. According to the UN, the following three factors are especially important for a successful peacekeeping mission. They have to: Be guided by the principles of consent, impartiality, and the non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of the mandate; Be perceived as legitimate and credible, particularly in the eyes of the local population; Promote national and local ownership of the peace process in the host country Simic, Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?, International Peacekeeping, 196f; Jennings, Women s participation in UN peacekeeping operations, ; Karim and Beardsley, Explaining sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions, Journal of Peace Research, 112ff; and Katherine Remenyi, Does the Inclusion of Women in Peace Building Processes Make a Difference?, E-International Relations, July 07, 2016, (accessed November 18, 2016). 120 United Nations Peacekeeping, Success in Peacekeeping, 2017, operations/success.shtml (accessed April 23, 2017). 33

41 Other criteria include but are not limited to: commitment by the Security Council, host country and troop supplying countries, as well as clear formulated mandates. While the principles within the first factor used to be considered as the three cardinal rules of peacekeeping, 121 especially within the scope of interstate conflicts, nowadays it is reasoned that the nature of conflict has changed towards intrastate conflicts and sometimes it is inevitable to break these rules. Consent from the host country is important because it shows a willingness to work together with peacekeepers exists. This willingness is said to improve the success rate of a peace operation tremendously. Concerning impartiality, it is argued that peacekeepers must take action should one of the parties involved in the conflict commit human rights violations. Thus, it is somewhat difficult to use this rule as measurement for success. The rule that force should only be used for self-defense faces similar restrictions, because (once again) the changing nature of conflicts might make the use of force necessary. 122 In order for it to be effective adequate resources and command, a strong and clear mandate and robust rules of engagement 123 need to be present. Only the rule of consent seems to be able to give a good measure of whether a mission is a success or failure. Another criteria vital to the success of a mission is the commitment of the Security Council, the five permanent members (P5) need to be able to cooperate or the focus will shift away from the actual issues and towards disagreements between the P Most recently, the case of the Syrian Civil War comes to mind. Disharmony among the P5 usually leads to delayed, weak, ambiguous, or unrealistic mandates, and/or inadequate means for peacekeeping missions Sara Richey, Is United Nations Peacekeeping a Practical Policy Instrument?: Factors that Influence the Success of Peacekeeping Operations. Senior Honors Thesis, Indiana University Bloomington, May 2011, Richey, Is United Nations Peacekeeping a Practical Policy Instrument? 6ff. 123 Michael Matheson, Council Unbound: The Growth of UN Decision Making on Conflict and Postconflict Issues after the Cold War (Washington D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2006), Richey, Is United Nations Peacekeeping a Practical Policy Instrument? Andrzej Sitkowski, UN Peacekeeping: Myth and Reality (Westport, Conn.: Praeger Security International, 2006),

42 Therefore, unity among the P5 creates more successful missions. Cooperation between the P5 is especially important for mission mandates, because here their mission s targets are defined. Whether these targets are achieved or not usually determines how successful a mission was. In many cases the mandate either suffers from being formulated too vaguely, from setting goals that are impossible to attain or from constant adding of new goals. 126 Creating a flawless mandate is utopian because according to Jett, SC [Security Council] mandates, by their very nature, will continue to embody political compromises reflecting competing interests of member states. 127 Also very important to the success of peace operations are adequately trained troops, since many are coming from third-world countries their skill level tends to not be on par with troops from more developed countries. Cases of misconduct by peacekeepers put even more strain on the success of the mission, since it is the national government of the individual troops, not the UN that holds authority over them. But the personnel in the field also has a way of contributing to a successful mission by giving feedback on which mission objectives are working and which objectives need adjustment. Thus, making it possible to include the actual situation in the conflict region into mandate adjustments. 128 These are obviously not all factors that can make or break a peacekeeping mission, but in order to stay on track of this thesis, the discussion of effectiveness in peacekeeping operations will end here. Female peacekeepers are obviously restricted by the mandate and the level of cooperation given by the Security Council, but they can ensure that they fulfill the mandate that is assigned to them to the best of their abilities, given that the mandate itself is effective. It is also possible for them to provide feedback on what works and what does not, as well as what has changed within the mission. With regards to some peacekeepers misbehaving we would return to 126 Richey, Is United Nations Peacekeeping a Practical Policy Instrument? 11ff. 127 Dennis Jett, Why Peacekeeping Fails (New York: St. Marin s Press, 1999), Richey, Is United Nations Peacekeeping a Practical Policy Instrument? 19ff. 35

43 the debate from the earlier debate about whether female peacekeepers are able and willing to influence the behavior of their male colleagues. 36

44 3. Case Study Background Information This chapter will introduce the main case for this case study, the all-female Indian unit. Since the focus is on one individual case the background for this case should, therefore, be explained in more detail. Hence, before the UN s first ever all-female unit is introduced this chapter will outline the history of the Liberian Civil War, shortly address the role women played within the conflict, describe how the UN got involved in this conflict, and give an insight into the works of UNMIL and UNPOL before the all-female unit arrived in Liberia. The last section will then introduce several studies that have been conducted on the all-female unit as well as female peacekeepers within UNMIL in general. It aims to illustrate the influences and effects these female peacekeepers have Civil War in Liberia History The civil war in Liberia lasted from 1989 until 2003 and was split into to two phases by a short-lived period of peace in It cost around 250, people their lives and misplaced 60 percent 130 of the population internally or within neighboring countries. When the fighting started in December 1989, parts of the population had already gone through years of oppression by the hand of then President Samuel Doe, who had acquired power in 1980 through a coup d état. Two of the leading figures in the fight against Doe were Charles Taylor, the leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), and Prince Johnson, who later on left Taylor and founded the Independent National Patriotic Front (INPFL) in July BBC, Liberia profile, April 11, 2007, africa (accessed April 14, 2017). 130 Vera Achvarina and Simon F. Reich, No Place to Hide: Refugees, Displaced Persons, and the Recruitment of Child Soldiers, International Security, Vol. 31 No. 1 (2006): Peter Dennis, A brief history of Liberia, The International Center for Transitional Justice, May 2006, 2ff, https 37

45 Soon after fights between the NPFL and the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) had begun, it was decided by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to send a peacekeeping force called Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) into Liberia with the goal of establishing a cease-fire and peace deal. Nonetheless, fighting continued, and within six months Taylor had reached Liberia's capital Monrovia. Towards the end of 1990 Doe was captured by Johnson and eventually killed, but even then the struggle for power continued. 132 By November of the same year, ECOWAS had managed to negotiate a settlement according to which an Interim Government of National Unity was supposed be put in charge, but once again the conflict was kept alive through Taylor s refusal to acknowledge the interim government. Due to ethnic conflicts factions kept forming and disbanding that by 1995 the following seven fractions were officially participating in the Civil War: 1) NPFL; 2) AFL; 3) National Patriotic Front of Liberia Central Revolutionary Council (NPFL-CRC); 4) Lofa Defense Force (LDF); 5) United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia K (ULIMO-K); 6) United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia J (ULIMO-J) and 7) Liberian Peace Council (LPC). 133 In 1995 the fractions were able to create some kind of peace agreement, however, throughout 1996 some of the most lethal fights took place. Nevertheless, elections, which had been agreed on previously, were still held in the middle of 1997 and saw Charles Taylor emerging as the winner. But soon an opposition against Taylor formed, and with the establishment of opposition groups such as Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) fighting started again and continued well into By that :// (accessed April 14, 2017); Philippa Atkinson, The war economy in Liberia, Network Paper, Relief and Rehabilitation Network, May 1997, 4; UN, UNMIL Background, 2017, (accessed April 14, 2017). 132 Dennis, A brief history of Liberia, 3; and Atkinson, The war economy in Liberia, Dennis, A brief history of Liberia, 3f; and Atkinson, The war economy in Liberia, 4f. 38

46 time Taylor finally agreed to ECOWAS s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which granted him asylum in Nigeria. Taylor s term was finished by his vice president and then an interim government took over for the transition period. In the same year the UNMIL took over from ECOWAS, and two years later the current President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected through a process that was widely considered just, and has since been reelected. 134 Years of conflict had left the Liberia s infrastructure, economy and basic services in shambles, therefore, the new government under President Johnson-Sirleaf set out to transform Liberia into an international model of post-conflict recovery Women within the Civil War Liberian women played an important role during the war, not only as fighters but also as supporters and peacemakers. In some sense, the conflict gave them the chance to show their abilities and challenge traditional gender roles, which usually saw them as mothers or agricultural workers. In many cases, moral ideals were implemented through female genital mutilation, which is still widely practiced in Liberia today. Obviously, the civil war was not a time for female empowerment as many women had experienced several forms of sexual assault, and women made up a major part of the refugee and internally displaced population. 136 Throughout the first part of the civil war, groups like the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET) were already active, and even attended peace talks. But even then women had a minor role in the peace talks that, for a short time, ended fighting in This encouraged some 134 Dennis, A brief history of Liberia, 3ff; and Mary Wandia, Liberia needs to muster the courage to ban FGM, The Guardian, April 27, 2016, (accessed April 14, 2017). 135 Nicola Jones et al., The fallout of rape as a weapon of war The life-long and intergenerational impacts of sexual violence in conflict, ODI, June 2014, 4, publications-opinion-files/8990.pdf (accessed April 14, 2017); UNMIL and OGA, Gender Mainstreaming In Peacekeeping Operations Liberia (Accra, Ghana: UNMIL, September 2010), Laura Huber, Power in Numbers? The Impact of Female Formed Police Units on Women s Empowerment, Honors Thesis, University of Dayton, April 2014, 49f; Wandia, Liberia needs to ban FGM. 39

47 women to mobilize in order to get recognition. Religious groups like the National Lutheran Church Women in Liberia managed to mobilize women of different beliefs to come together peacefully to advocate for the end of the war. Unlike during the first peace talks, women groups like WIPNET and the Mano River Women s Peace Network (MARWOPNET) had an active role in the final peace negotiations and were even signatories of the peace declaration. Within the resulting CPA, quotas were set for female representation in post-conflict Liberia. And after the war women kept advocating for themselves to be included in the reconstruction of their country, and they especially wanted to challenge traditional Liberian gender roles Creation and Development of UNMIL Before the takeover through UNMIL in 2003, the UN had already supported ECOWAS in its goal to end the civil war. In order to achieve this goal, the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL) was established, which was the first United Nations peacekeeping mission undertaken in cooperation with a peacekeeping operation already established by another organization. 138 With the election of Taylor in 1997 UNOMIL had achieved its main goal, and later that year the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Liberia (UNOL) was created. UNOL s main task was to aid the government in establishing long-lasting peace. 139 As is apparent from the short summary of the Liberian Civil War, UNOL had a difficult time with establishing peace. And eventually in July 2003, then Secretary General, Kofi Annan requested in a letter to the President of the Security Council that a three-phase deployment to 137 UNMIL and OGA, Gender Mainstreaming In Peacekeeping Operations, 3f; George Kieh, Ending Liberia s Second Civil War: Religious Women as Peacemakers, Berkley Centre for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, August 2013, 7; Huber, Power in Numbers? 50f; Dorina Bekoe and Christina Parajon, Women s Role in Liberia s Reconstruction, United States Institute of Peace, May 1, 2007, (accessed April 18, 2017). 138 UN, UNMIL Background, UN, UNMIL Background, 2017; the same source provides more in depths info on the UN s actions before the establishment of UNMIL. 40

48 Liberia should be considered. 140 According to Annan's plan, the first phase entailed that an "ECOWAS vanguard force would be stabilizing the situation in Monrovia. 141 In phase two, a multinational force relieved the vanguard force and in phase three, a UN peacekeeping operation would be taking over. The Security Council acted fast and adopted UNSCR 1497, which authorize[d] Member States to establish a Multinational Force in Liberia 142 and declared that a longer-term United Nations stabilization force to relieve the Multinational Force 143 should be prepared. In resolution 1509, from September , the Security Council "decide[d] to establish the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) [ ] for 12 months." 144 UNMIL s mandate among other things focused on providing humanitarian aid and giving support for the security reform. Within the mandate, the Security Council also "[reaffirmed] the importance of a gender perspective in peacekeeping operations and post-conflict peace-building" 145 and [recalled] the need to address violence against women and girls as a tool of warfare. 146 Over the years the Security Council adopted several follow-up resolutions to UNSCR 1509, which either reaffirmed UNMIL s mandate, extended it 147 or as seen in recent years, slowly started to withdraw forces in order to give full control back to the Liberian government. 148 According to resolution 1509, UNMIL initially started out with up to 15,000 United Nations military personnel, including [ ] military observers and [ ] staff officers, and up to 1,115 civilian police officers, including formed units. 149 The official drawdown of UNMIL began with UNSCR 2066 in 2012, when it was decided that the mission s military strength would be reduced 140 SG Kofi Annan, S/2003/796, Letter to the President of the Security Council, July 29, 2003, 1ff. 141 Annan, S/2003/796, UN Security Council, S/RES/1497, Security Council Resolution, August 1, 2003, UN Security Council, S/RES/1497, UN Security Council, S/RES/1509, Security Council Resolution, September 19, 2003, UN Security Council, S/RES/1509, UN Security Council, S/RES/1509, For example, resolution 2116 demanded that more attention should be paid to gender-based abuses. UN Security Council, S/RES/2116, Security Council Resolution, September 18, More information can be found on UNMIL Resolutions of the Security Council on UNMIL, 2017, (accessed April 18, 2017). 149 UN Security Council, S/RES/1509, 3. 41

49 in three phases. Between 2012 and 2015 the troop size was supposed to be decreased to 3,750 personnel, while the police units received an increase of about 420 officers. 150 Throughout the years the military and police personnel ceilings were continuously adjusted. Even though UNMIL returned security control back to the Liberian government in June 2016, currently there are still military and police forces stationed in the country, and at the end of 2016, the Security Council decided to extend UNMIL's mandate until March of 2018 in order to take care of potential security issues like the upcoming elections. 151 As of March 2017, 434 military personnel and 310 police officers have remained within Liberia. At that time, women made up 11 percent of military personnel and about 11.3 percent of police officers. 152 These numbers could be influenced by the fact that UNMIL has nearly reached the end of its mandate, but even before the drawdown began, there was a higher representation of women in UNMIL compared to other peacekeeping operations. For example, around the time the all-female Indian unit was deployed, female police officers already made up percent of UNMIL s police force. The average for female police officers across all UN missions at that point in time was 8.2 percent. 153 In contrast, female representation within UNMIL s military contingent was rather low at 2.3 per cent 154 of military personnel in January Gender issues were not just included into UNMIL s work through the Office of Gender Affairs, which at one 150 UN Security Council, S/RES/2066, Security Council Resolution, September 17, 2012, UNMIL, UN Security Council extends UNMIL S mandate one last time, December 27, 2016, s-mandate-one-last-time (accessed April 18, 2017); UN Security Council, S/RES/2333, UN, Gender Statistics by Missions, The specific numbers for UNMIL can be found in Table 1 on page 85f, the numbers have been bolded. 153 Charlotte Anderholt, Female Participation in Formed Police Units A Report on the Integration of Women in Formed Police Units of Peacekeeping Operations, PKSOI Paper, September 2012, 37f, ).pdf (accessed April 19, 2017). For monthly gender statistics within UN peacekeeping missions please see: UN, Gender Statistics, 2017, (accessed April 19, 2017). 154 For more detailed numbers please see Table 2 on page 86. It should be pointed out that in earlier years the UN only provided statistics for the military contingents they deployed. 42

50 point had 10 members, but the support for more female participation within the unit was also backed by Liberian President Johnson-Sirleaf. 155 As previously mentioned, one of UNMIL s main tasks was to help with the reform of Liberia s security sector, and a big part of this task focused on rebuilding the Liberian National Police (LNP). In resolution 1509 the Security Council stated that UNMIL should: assist the transitional government of Liberia in monitoring and restricting the police force of Liberia, consistent with democratic policing, to develop a civilian police training program, and to otherwise assist in the training of civilian police. 156 The main representative for this task was UNPOL, which is an indispensable tool in the UN s strive for peace and security. UNPOL s role within UNMIL will be further explained in the following section UNPOL before the All-Female Unit UNPOL, which has been active since 1960, had initially only been task with the role of an observer, which was supposed to monitor and report on events that had occurred in the peacekeeping missions. But around 1990, UNPOL s mandate was expanded with two major tasks, namely with reforming, or to be precise, with rebuilding the local police, and supplying security services until local forces were able to take over. While doing so UNPOL usually has to face one tremendous difficulty. In most post-conflict situations the public lacks trust in the security sector because security forces are often negatively involved in the conflicts that led to the 155 Olivia F. Kember, The Impact of the Indian Formed Police Unit in the United Nations Mission in Liberia, Master Thesis, Georgetown University, April 19, 2010, 22f. 156 UN Security Council, S/RES/1509, 4. 43

51 UN establishing a peace operation. Restoring trust is, therefore, an essential part of UNPOL s work. 157 Former Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described UNPOL s role as the following: In addition to protecting individuals, they [UN Police] help society as a whole by redefining the role of policing in countries emerging from conflict, forging trust in uniformed police, establishing faith in national justice systems and fostering confidence in peace processes. 158 The UNPOL police force is always composed of individual police officers and so-called Formed Police Units (FPUs), which usually consist of about 140 police officers. While civilian officers mostly hold advisory roles, the FPUs take on a more active role. 159 That is why, in the case of UNMIL, the tasks of these units included the protection of UN personnel and facilities [ ], provision of security support to the Liberian National Police, including joint patrols, show of presence, concurrence in the maintenance of peace and security and promoting confidence-building measures, and capacity building of the LNP. 160 As already stated, one of UNPOL s core duties is to rebuild the trust of the population into their own security forces. So when UNMIL first came to Liberia they found that the security forces and especially the LNP needed to be reconstructed, since many of the security forces had been involved in the civil war. In order to restore trust, new requirements were set up for joining the LNP. Now new recruits and former LNP members had to hold citizenship of the Republic of Liberia, be between 18 and 35, and have a high school diploma. 161 They should also not have a criminal record nor charges pending for war crimes, crimes against humanity or crimes violating 157 UN, United Nations Police, 2017, /sites/police/policing.shtml, (accessed April 19, 2017); Kember, The Impact of the Indian FPU in UNMIL, 15f. 158 UN, UNPOL, UN, Formed Police Units, 2017, (accessed April 19, 2017). 160 Kember, The Impact of the Indian FPU in UNMIL, Kember, The Impact of the Indian FPU in UNMIL, 25f; and Sulaiman Momodu, Educating Women for a Police Career, UNMIL Focus 10, December 2006, 10f, (accessed April 19, 2017). 44

52 international human rights conventions. 162 In the end, only a fraction of the initial police force was left, and thus the National Police Academy was established in order to train and retrain. 163 Relating to female recruits, a target was set that aimed to have a female recruit percentage of 20. Nevertheless, it soon became obvious that this goal would be difficult to achieve as UNPOL had to work around two major problems. One initial issue was that women were less than eager to join the LNP, which was not only due to its bad reputation, but also due to the rather traditional view that the job of a police officer was a men s job. 164 In some cases, young women were discouraged from joining the security forces by their mothers because they had been raped by members of the security forces during the civil war. 165 The second issue was related to the new recruitment requirements, because many women were unable to sing up for the LNP as they did not possess a high school diploma. Therefore, only six percent of the LNP were female by the time the all-female unit was deployed to Liberia. 166 The following Chapter will shed light on whether the all-female unit was able to influence the female recruitment numbers or not. In order to tackle the issue of low female recruitment, a Gender Policy was developed in Through the commitment of UNPOL and the Office of Gender Affairs initiatives were created which sought to tackle the recruitment issue. This policy, among other things, gave women without high school certificates the chance to complete courses that were equivalent to these certificates and created a Women and Children Unit as well as a Gender Unit within the LNP. The DPKO used the Gender Policy as a model in its 2010 guidelines on how to integrate a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations Kember, The Impact of the Indian FPU in UNMIL, Kember, The Impact of the Indian FPU in UNMIL, Kember, The Impact of the Indian FPU in UNMIL, Huber, Power in Numbers? Momodu, Educating Women for a Police Career, UNDP and UNIFEM, Gender Sensitive Police Reform in Post Conflict Societies, October 2007, 9, %20Gender%20Sensitive%20Police%20Reform%20in%20Post%20Conflict%20Societies.pdf, (accessed April 45

53 3.4. The All-Female Indian Unit The UN s first ever all-female FPU arrived in Liberia on January 30, The unit was 125 people strong and included 103 female officers and 22 male support staff. All operational officers came from the Rapid Action Force battalions of India s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force. Stationed within Congo Town, a suburb of the capital Monrovia 168, the unit joined four other FPUs from Nigeria, Nepal (two), and Jordan. Initially, the unit was supposed to stay for six months, but the deployment was then extended for an additional six months. After that, the unit rotated annually for nine years. 169 Next to the FPUs universal tasks such as patrol duties, rapid response assignments, crowd and riot control, [and] general back-up support, 170 the female unit also had some individual tasks like the protection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Liberian President. During the night the Indian FPU tended to carry out patrols with members of the LNP. During these patrols, the LNP officers, unlike the FPU ones, did not carry weapons with them , 2017); UN DPKO and DFS, DPKO/DFS Guidelines Integrating a Gender Perspective into the Work of the United Nations Military in Peacekeeping Operations (New York, Office of the Military Adviser, March 2010), 25; Kember, The Impact of the Indian FPU in UNMIL, Maps showing the location of Liberia, Monrovia and Congo Town can be found in the Annex starting from page 90f. 169 The Times of India, All-women RAF contingent to join UN mission, October 08, 2006, (accessed April 20, 2007); J. Wesley Washington, All-female Police Contingent Arrives, UNMIL Focus 10, December 2006, 12; Kember, The Impact of the Indian FPU in UNMIL, 19 & 27; UN News Centre, FEATURE: Hailed as role models, all-female Indian Police Unit departs UN mission in Liberia, February 12, 2016, (accessed April 20, 2017). 170 Thembani Mbadlanyana and Freedom C. Onuoha, Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality Challenges to the (re-) establishment of rule of law in Liberia, ISS Paper 190, Institute for Security Studies, July 2009,10, (accessed April 20, 2017). 171 Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality, 11; Tristan McConnell, All-female Unit keeps Peace in Liberia, The Christian Science Monitor, March 21, 2007, (accessed April 18, 20017). 46

54 When the unit first arrived UNMIL's Police Commissioner Mohammed Alhassan stated that: We hope that the presence of this all-female contingent will serve as an incentive and an attraction to encourage young Liberian women to join the Liberian National Police. 172 And Seema Dhundia, the commander of the unit, showed confidence in her troop and said: I think the Liberian people are going to welcome us with open arms and more of the local population will get inspired seeing these girls properly dressed, well equipped and probably they will get motivated to join the UN police officers, especially the girls. 173 UN spokesman Ben Dotsei Malor even voiced that the Indian women will be able to do the job just as well as their male counterparts are already doing on the ground if not better in some instances. 174 But in the beginning there seemed to exist a reluctance among the all-female force to be advocates for the local female population. They viewed themselves more as role models from a distance, 175 and consciously limited interaction with local women. One officer even declared: "They [local women] try hard to be friends with us, but we don't want to. We just do what the job requires, that's all." 176 Some people even claimed that the unit looked down upon the Liberians, and specifically upon their traditional gender roles. 177 It is speculated that they behaved this way in order to not appear weak. The unit started as a trial by the UN and commander Dhundia had to face doubters who thought that her unit was not as capable as the male ones. The issue seemed to have died down after the unit proved its worth, and over time the unit started to initiate several community outreach programs that focused on women and girls. With each following unit, more and more programs would be added. Rakhi Sahi, the commander of the second unit, which 172 UN News Centre, In first for UN peacekeeping, All-Female Police Unit arrives in Liberia, January 30, 2007, (accessed April 19, 2017). 173 UN News Centre, All-Female Police Unit arrives in Liberia, UN News Centre, All-Female Police Unit arrives in Liberia, Kember, The Impact of the Indian FPU in UNMIL, Shabnam Grewal, All female UN squad a success, BBC News, June 21, 2007, (accessed April 18, 2017). 177 Laura Huber, Power in Numbers?

55 relieved the first squad in January 2008, even expressed the hope to start several community projects. The Indian officers gave classes on self-defense, first aid, and sexual violence, held community cleanups, provided medical services, and even worked together with a local orphanage. These were only some of the many projects that had been initiated by the female FPU. The unit also cooperated with the Office of the Gender Advisor in order to train female officers and spread gender awareness among the recruits. 178 Yet, the unit seemed to still be battling between two wishes, on one hand, they wanted to further empower local women and on the other hand they wanted to be seen in the same light as the male units. During a research done by Laura Huber in 2013, which will be introduced more in-depth in the next section, she found that some UNMIL members thought that there was nothing unique about the projects that had been initiated by the female unit, while people that did not work for the UN emphasized on the influence that the female unit s projects had on local women. In the same study, the unit was also criticized for being limited by its location. It argued that the part of the population that most needs exposure to the all-female unit does not get any as they are all living in rural areas, while the unit is mostly exposed to the people living in Monrovia. But it is believed that gender equality is easier to spread in the capital than in rural areas where gender inequality is very high. 179 After nine years of annual rotations, the last all-female Indian unit departed from Liberia on February 21, 2016, being part of the mission-wide withdrawal plan. During an official farewell ceremony, President Johnson-Sirleaf said that: If I had my will, I would have recommended for another unit of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) to leave, so that the Indian Formed Police Unit (FPU) would continue its stay in the country for the time being McConnell, All-female Unit keeps Peace, 2007; Kember, The Impact of the Indian FPU in UNMIL, 28f; Margarete Jacob, Daniel Bendix and Ruth Stanley, Engendering SSR. A Workshop Report (Berlin, 2009), 55; UN News Centre, All-female Unit departs UN mission, 2016; Kristen A. Cordell, "Security or Tokenism Evaluating Role of Women as Peacekeepers within the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping," PRIO, Huber, Power in Numbers? 72ff. 180 UN News Centre, All-female Unit departs UN mission,

56 And the numbers do support the all-female unit. Compared to 2007, when only six percent of the LNP were female officers, nowadays women make up about 17 percent of the local police force. 181 The Colonel of the last all-female unit, Madhubala Bala expressed that her officers had had a significant influence on local women, 182 and former Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released a statement in which he paid tribute to the unit's hard work and pointed out that: The conduct of the FPU served as an example of how the deployment of more female uniformed personnel can help the UN in its efforts to combat sexual exploitation and abuse. 183 The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMIL, Farid Zarif was confident that while the unit will not be replaced, [...] its legacy will continue in Liberia and throughout peacekeeping Existing Studies on the Impact of the All-female Indian Unit The last sections of this chapter will introduce previous studies and their findings on the allfemale unit s effect in Liberia. It should be noted that not all studies were solely conducted on the all-female unit but they still provide an insight into the effectiveness of female peacekeepers and should thus not be ignored. The studies that will be introduced are obviously not all studies that have been conducted on the all-female unit but in order to not digress from the main topic too far, the author selected three studies, which appeared to have the most informative findings. 181 UN News Centre, All-female Unit departs UN mission, UN News Centre, All-female Unit departs UN mission, UN Secretary General, Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the departure of the all-female Formed Police Unit form Liberia, February 12, 2016, (accessed April 21, 2017). 184 UN News Centre, All-female Unit departs UN mission,

57 Sabrina Karim s research titled Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness: Does Gender Neutrality Inhibit Progress? 185, analyzed the perspective of female peacekeepers and the local population on the role women play within peacekeeping missions. Karim split the study into two parts, in the first part she tried to find out how the female peacekeepers of UNMIL thought about their roles within the mission by conducting semi structured interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observations at UN headquarters among female and male peacekeepers. In the second part Karim conducted surveys in Peace Island and West Point, two ex-combatant communities in Monrovia. She then used a logistic regression model to analyze her findings. The views of female peacekeepers and policy makers on the role of female peacekeepers within peace operations seems to align. Many female peacekeepers even think that they are better at communicating with the local population, especially when local women are concerned. The female peacekeepers also thought that they had a positive effect on the physical security of local women, and the all-female Indian unit in particular thought that they had an immense effect in influencing local women. But even though female peacekeepers have this kind of perception, barriers still exist that make their jobs harder than they need to be. The main concern seems to be that female peacekeepers are restricted to certain jobs and thus, restricted within their roles, and that medial attention is focused too much on the community work they are doing. As a result, no attention is given to how female peacekeepers carry out their other jobs like riot control. 186 The commander of the Indian unit at that time pointed out: The focus on of success for the Indian FPU has been on their community initiatives, not the actual work, but the main point is that we play the role in reverse. We are the ones that provide security and the logistics are done by men; it s an example that this can work that women can partake in operations Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions. 186 Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions, 11ff. 187 Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions,

58 In addition female peacekeepers mentioned that they felt restricted in their mobility, which limited interactions with the local community. Surprisingly, while mobility restrictions also apply to male peacekeepers they did not seem to think that these barriers limited them. 188 The first thing noticeable in the part about how the locals view female peacekeepers is that there seems to be very limited interaction between peacekeepers and the two surveyed communities as a whole. Contact between local women and female peacekeepers is especially limited, which implies that it is indeed hard for female peacekeepers to interact with locals. While most locals think that female peacekeepers are more effective than their male counterparts, local women that interacted with female peacekeepers did not share this view. To them neither female nor male peacekeepers were more effective. With regards to the prevention of rape, locals do not seem to think that female peacekeepers had any kind of influence. They even kept the opinion that men should handle these kinds of crimes. Karim argues that it is possible that this stems from the fact that rape is such a delicate topic and that peacekeepers can be perpetrators as well. There also seems to be no significant influence by female peacekeepers on inspiring local women into joining the security forces, which could be ascribed to the fact that ex-combatant communities are especially wary of peacekeepers. Karim concludes that any kind of positive results female peacekeepers could achieve are held back by a so called access gap. This gap could also influence how the local population perceives peacekeepers, and especially female peacekeepers. 189 In Laura Huber s research titled Power in Numbers? The Impact of the Female Formed Police Units on Women s Empowerment 190, Huber used the all-female Indian unit to examine the effects such a unit has on female empowerment and how long-lasting these effects are. She conducted interviews with representatives from UNMIL, the LNP, humanitarian NGO s and 188 Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions, Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions, 17ff. 190 Huber, Power in Numbers? 51

59 other groups, but was limited in interviewing locals. The all-female Indian unit was novelty at the time it was first deployed and thus, garnered lots of media attention and donations towards the cause of female empowerment. But some of the participants voiced concern that donors might focus on other issues should the media hype about the all-female unit die down. Another issue was that even if the all-female unit inspires local women to join the security sector their lack of education tended to prevent them from doing so. Participants also pointed out that rural communities usually need donor funding and genderfocused programs more than the urban centers, which are more progressive. This diminishes the impact of the all-female unit since this unit is pretty much restricted to one community in the capital. 191 It is suggested that just by doing their jobs and wearing a uniform the all-female unit was not only able to inspire local women to join the security forces, but also to challenge the traditional view of what a woman is capable of. This implies that female units can have an impact because they do things the same way as their male colleagues, and not because they are different. While the all-female unit definitely played a big role in encouraging Liberian women to join the LNP it should not be ignored that with each additional women joining the LNP they reinforced and extended the reach the all-female unit had. But the increased recruitment of women came with some issues. In order to give opportunities to women that lacked education, the requirements had been lowered for them. This created a gap between more experienced officers and the new mostly less qualified female recruits. Not only did this strengthen the belief that women did not belong into the security sector, but it also showed that women are not better than men after all, as some female officers had also accepted bribes Huber, Power in Numbers? 55ff. 192 Huber, Power in Numbers? 61ff. 52

60 A big issue was that the unit had to deal with a conflict between trying to appear just as capable as their male colleagues and the wish to do more for female empowerment. This should in actuality not cause any problems since a passive representation, as described in the previous paragraph, supposedly is enough to inspire local women. But according to one participant, passive representation was not enough to keep female recruits interested in the police training and as a result many of them quit. Huber concludes that female peacekeepers need to actively engage with local women in order to initiate long-lasting change, which in turn would influence the unit s wish to be perceived the same as their male counterparts. 193 While the all-female unit received mostly positive feedback from participants whose work was in some way or form related women and security, there were quite a few people that were not aware of the unit and its work. Most of them were not familiar with the field of Women, Peace and Security. If that is the case it is questionable how much impact the unit has after all. It also implies that most Liberians are not affected by the unit, since it is restricted to one community within Monrovia. 194 Huber concludes that the impact that the all-female unit will leave behind after their withdrawal will not last for too long, as passive representation is not enough for long-lasting changes to take place. 195 In order to make projects that focus on female empowerment more sustainable both female and male units should engage in them. This would also mitigate the worry of female peacekeepers to not be viewed as competent as male peacekeepers. Huber also suggests that instead of concentrating women into one unit, and thereby, reducing their impact, it would be better to create several units with an equal distribution of women Huber, Power in Numbers? 71f. 194 Huber, Power in Numbers? 74ff. 195 Since then the all-female unit has left Liberia, but as of April 2017 the author of this thesis is not aware of any reports or statistics that prove or disprove this assumption. 196 Huber, Power in Numbers? 77ff. 53

61 The Double-Edged Sword of Security Sector Gender Balancing Reforms: Survey Evidence From Liberia 197, a study conducted by Sabrina Karim, analyzed several hypothesis, which had been set up by Karim, in regards to how contact to either foreign or local females in the security sector influences who the local population would prefer to take care of security concerns. Karim then once again conducted surveys within Peace Island and West Point, and used a logit model to test her hypotheses. No matter the security concern, contact with women in the security sector leads to civilians not preferring female peacekeepers or peacekeepers in general to respond. Karim argues that this implies that gender balancing indicates that the security sector has been reformed. Through visible changes taking place trust is recreated. It also implies that these changes legitimize local security forces but not international ones. The all-female unit seems to barely play a role in the inspiration of local women, which is most likely due to the unit s limited interaction with the surveyed communities. Apparently, local female officers serve as a bigger inspiration than female peacekeepers. The Indian unit s focus on riot control also seems to limit local women to the same kind of task, because other than this specific task female peacekeepers do not seem to legitimize female participation in the security sector. It also appears that the local population prefers female police officers to take care of cases related to sexual assault instead of ones that are related to general security issues or armed crimes. While local police women tend to be limited to gender issues, the all-female unit s involvement in riot control started to open up the traditional masculine security roles 198 to women Karim, The Double-Edged Sword. 198 Karim, The Double-Edged Sword, Karim, The Double-Edged Sword, 36ff. 54

62 Overall it can be said that while the all-female unit opened the security sector to local women, their impact is usually limited by several barriers and restricted to the area they are stationed in. But people that did have closer contact to the unit had the perception that their own security had improved. While the direct influence of female peacekeepers on inspiring local women seems questionable since any effect was most likely reinforced by local female police officers, it cannot be ignored that female peacekeepers were eager to engage in activities that empowered local women. They were especially involved in creating institutional changes. UNMIL s female peacekeepers had had a hand in establishing a national rape law, a National Action Plan on UNSC 1325, as well as the Women and Children s Protection Unit, and the Gender Unit within the LNP. In order for female peacekeepers to be more effective, they would need to be active in a bigger area and the burden of fear that they are exchanging engagement with local women for recognition as a fully functional peacekeeping unit needs to be reduced Karim, The Double-Edged Sword, 39ff; Huber, Power in Numbers? 77ff; Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions, 20ff. 55

63 4. Sexual Assault in Liberia and the All-female Indian Unit 201 This chapter will analyze to what extent the all-female Indian unit had an effect on sexual assault in Liberia in general and UNMIL peacekeepers in specific. In order to do so, the first two sections will introduce what the situation is like in regards to sexual assault in Liberia and sexual exploitation and abuse in UNMIL. After that, the effect of the all-female unit will be discussed, and before the chapter is closed off with policy recommendations, it will be questioned whether male peacekeepers have different perceptions of female peacekeepers and local women Sexual Assault in Liberia Even years after the civil war has ended sexual assault is still a huge problem in Liberia 202, and can usually be found on the top of violent crime lists. Since sexual assault rates are hard to track and mostly inaccurate, especially in a post-conflict society like Liberia, it will not be possible to present a comprehensive statistic on sexual assault cases in Liberia. Therefore, different reliable sources will be used to at least provide a glimpse at how the sexual assault rate has changed over the years. According to a report produced for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), there was a total of sexual assault cases in Liberia in The report also states 201 Please be aware that due to sexual assault being a very delicate issue that there is a high possibility that the provided numbers on sexual assault are only estimates and that the actual numbers most likely are higher. 202 Reports exist which claim that during the civil about 75 percent of Liberian women and girls were raped, but recently these claims have faced backlash since the number, which is usually attributed to a World Health Organization (WHO) Mission Report from 2004, was not supposed to stand for all Liberia women and girls. The report surveyed victims of sexual violence, and 75 percent of the participants reported that they had experienced rape and not a different form of sexual assault. In contrast Refugee International estimates that around 40 percent of women were raped during the civil war. For more information please see: Dara K. Cohen and Amelia Hoover Green, Were 75 percent of Liberian women and girls raped? No. So why is the U.N. repeating that misleading statistic? The Washington Post, October 26, 2016; Marie-Claire O. Omanyondo, Sexual Gender-Based Violence and Health Facility Needs Assessment: Liberia, WHO, September 2004, (accessed April 23, 2017); McConnell, Allfemale Unit keeps Peace in Liberia. 203 For individual monthly numbers please see Table 4 on page 88. Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," 7. 56

64 that rape cases increased in the first half of Afterwards, not many numbers are available for a couple of years, except for a short mention in the Amnesty International Annual Report for Liberia from There it is stated that within the first six months of 2009 there were cases of rape in the county of Montserrado alone. In 2015 then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon revealed in a report to the Security Council that according to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection there had been 1, cases of sexual assault within Montserrado County was named as the place where most of these incidents took place. In 2015, the same Ministry reported a total of 1, sexual assault cases, while the Liberian Ministry of Justice published in their annual report that from November 2014 to October 2015 a total of sexual related offense had been reported to them. This number included rape cases and cases of sexual assault. Except for the numbers from the Liberian Ministry of Justice 211 all other numbers suggest that sexual assault is on the rise, but this conclusion should not be drawn to quickly. Sexual assault is obviously still an enormous problem, but some believe that the increase in recorded sexual assault incidents does not mean that there was an increase of sexual assault cases. On the contrary, it is believed that only the number of official sexual assault reports has gone up because 204 A screenshot of the comparative analysis can be found under Figure 1 on page 89. Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," Amnesty International, Annual Report: Liberia 2010, May 28, 2010, (accessed April 23, 2017). 206 SG Ban Ki-moon, "S/2015/203," Report of the Secretary-General, March 23, 2015, 22. The author of this thesis tried to access the original source for this number, but the website of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is not reachable as of April 24, It was also not possible to contact the Ministry itself. Therefore, for numbers from this particular Ministry, this thesis has to rely on secondary sources. 207 UNMIL and OHCHR, Addressing Impunity for Rape in Liberia, 2016 SGBV Report, October 2016, 7, (accessed April 24, 2017). 208 For a complete listing of the monthly numbers please see Table 5 on page 89. Ministry of Justice Republic of Liberia, MoJ Annual Report 2015, 2015, 128, (accessed April 24, 2017). 209 Ministry of Justice Republic of Liberia, Annual Report, Ministry of Justice Republic of Liberia, Annual Report, The difference in numbers between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection could implicate that the trust in the official security forces of Liberia has not completely been recreated. UNMIL and OHCHR, Addressing Impunity for Rape in Liberia, 7. 57

65 nowadays it is easier to report a case of sexual assault, and the stigma of being a victim of sexual assault is slowly being reduced. Thus, a cycle is created in which more reported sexual assault cases mean that women are starting to stand up for themselves and trusting that the police are able to handle such cases professionally. This in turn is believed to reduce sexual assault cases. 212 But still, the social stigma of being a victim of sexual assault remains, and often leads to incidents not being reported. Reasons include fear of victimisation [sic] by the abusers and a tendency to resort to traditional forms of dispute resolution or settlement out of court. 213 Even though Liberia has a rape law, it is usually only enforced inadequately, and undermined by persistent traditional beliefs. While the rape law is rather progressive in the sense that it allows for victims and perpetrators to be both female and male, it does not, for example, mention spousal rape as an actual form of rape. 214 A survey conducted in 2008 by the UNMIL Legal and Judicial System Support Division observed that percent of the participants thought that women contributed to rape by wearing revealing cloth, and about percent believed that women were partly responsible for being raped because they were alone with a man in a room. In addition percent thought that rape cannot be committed in marriage. Different research from 2014 conducted by several non-governmental and governmental organizations found that among school-aged children "75 % [of] boys and 22 % [of] girls agreed with the statement men are 212 Huber, Power in Numbers? 34; Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," 8; US Department of State, "Liberia 2015 Human Rights Report," Country Report on Human Rights, 2015, 15, (accessed April 24, 2017); UNMIL and OHCHR, "Addressing Impunity for Rape in Liberia," UNMIL Legal and Judicial System Support Division, Research on Prevalence and Attitudes to Rape in Liberia September to October 2008, 2008, 41, (accessed April 24, 2017). 216 UNMIL Legal and Judicial System Support Division, Research on Rape in Liberia, UNMIL Legal and Judicial System Support Division, Research on Rape in Liberia,

66 superior to women. 218 And 39 % [of] boys and 30 % [of] girls agreed that sexual abuse and violence against women and girls is a natural expression of male urges. 219 With such points of view, it is not surprising that victims would rather refrain from reporting that they have been sexually assaulted. Progress only comes slowly through activities such as the Government s antirape campaign called Stand UP Against Rape, but what is actually needed are tangible actions Sexual Exploitation and Abuse within UNMIL Even though the UN has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, again and again, peacekeepers are found to have breached this rule by [abusing] their status and the privileges they enjoy. 221 But since persecution is the job of the national governments and not the UN s, perpetrators usually get away with a warning or a very light punishment. Within UNMIL several peacekeepers have been found guilty of sexual exploitation and abuse. In 2005 there were 45 reports of sexual exploitation and abuse, while in 2006 the number decreased to No concrete numbers are available for the following years, but UNMIL established different awareness campaigns and reported that between January and June 2008 sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers had decreased. This report seems to be consistent with findings by the UN s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which reported that between 2008 and 2014, 85 alleged incidents of sexual assault had been recorded. But at the same time, the OIOS claims that these numbers make UNMIL one of the missions with the most cases of sexual exploitation and abuse. In fact, UNMIL is only second to MONUSCO. However, 218 IBIS et al., Passing the Test the Real Cost of being a Student, February 2014, 8, (accessed April 24, 2017). 219 IBIS et al., Passing the Test, UNMIL and OHCHR, Addressing Impunity for Rape in Liberia, 15; Martin K. N. Kollie, Liberia: Stand Up for Girls and Step Up Against Rape, AllAfrica, October 13, 2016, (accessed April 24, 2017). 221 Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," McConnell, All-female Unit keeps Peace in Liberia. 59

67 UNMIL's personnel does not regard sexual exploitation and abuse as a problem within the mission. But this does not mean that the UNMIL staff is not aware of sexual exploitations and abuses taking place. In the past, staff members have admitted to knowing about such cases but choose to remain silent for one reason or another. The reasons generally included protecting friends from possible punishment and not knowing how to actually report a case of sexual exploitation or abuse. Some even reasoned that sexual exploitation and abuse was more or less a part of peacekeeping since many peacekeepers engaged in such kind of misconduct and only a few were ever held responsible. This creates the belief that the zero-tolerance policy is essentially impossible to enforce completely. Therefore, it is possible to assume that the number of actual incidents is higher than reported. 223 Sexual exploitation cases seem to be way more common than the discussed numbers suggest. In a survey conducted by Bernd Beber et al. 224 it was found that the likelihood of women in Monrovia to engage in transactional sex with peacekeepers is very high. Transactional sex, in general, is defined as the "exchange of sex for money, favors, or gifts [ ] [and] is associated with high risk of contracting HIV and other STIs due to compromised power relations and the tendency to have multiple partnerships as a result. 225 The UN s stance on this issue is that transactional sex is also considered as sexual exploitation and abuse. This study is of special interest as it was conducted in the same city the all-female Indian unit was stationed Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality, 8; UN General Assembly, A/64/712, March 17, 2010, 16; US Department of State, Liberia 2015 Human Rights Report, 2; Kelly Neudorfer, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in UN Peacekeeping: An Analysis of Risk and Prevention Factors (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014), 70f; Kathleen M. Jennings and Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic, UN Peacekeeping Economies and Local Sex Industries: Connections and Implications (Brighton, UK: University of Sussex, 2009), Bernd Beber et al., Peacekeeping, Compliance with International Norms, and Transactional Sex in Monrovia, Liberia, International Organization, Volume 71, Issue 1, January Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services et al., Liberia Demographic and Health Survey 2007 (Monrovia: LISGIS, 2008), Beber et al., Peacekeeping and Transactional Sex in Monrovia, Liberia, International Organization, 6. 60

68 Beber et al. conducted their survey in the summer of 2012 in Liberia s capital Monrovia. The 475 main participants 227 were randomly selected women between the age of 18 and percent of these women reported that they had had transactional sex with UN staff and that most of them did so in exchange for money. Since transactional sex is a common occurrence in Liberia in general 229, the study also tried to gauge whether UN personnel increased this occurrence or if local women would have engaged in transactional sex even without UNMIL s presence. The study indicates that the presence of UNMIL had indeed increased the probability of young women engaging in transactional sex. It is estimated that the probability that a woman will engage in her first transactional sex at a particular age is between 3 and 7 percent higher for each additional 1,000 peacekeepers (roughly an extra battalion). 230 The researchers do point out that other factors like the end of the civil war coincident with the establishment of UNMIL and thus, blame for the increase of transactional sex cases cannot irrefutably be put on UN personnel. 231 It is implied that the UN perceives cases of sexual exploitation and abuse as rare incidents instead of a systematic problem. Even though the personnel within peace missions see transactional sex as just the way of life in this environment; that it did not do any harm; that locals preferred the company of internationals to other locals; and that mission life itself was an excuse to act in ways that one would refrain from at home. 232 This implies that there exists a gap between the actual problem and the solution the UN is trying to pursue. Possible policy recommendations will be discussed at the end of this chapter. 227 In sum they surveyed 1,381 households among them 475 were chosen for more in-depth interviews. 228 Beber et al., Peacekeeping and Transactional Sex in Monrovia, Liberia, International Organization, Besides being a way for especially females to make money, transactional sex also takes place between students and teachers in exchange for better grades or waiving of school fees. In many cases when students are concerned parents encourage transactional sex. For more see: Katharine A. Atwood et al., Transactional Sex among Youths in Post-conflict Liberia, Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, Volume 29, Number 2, Beber et al., Peacekeeping and Transactional Sex in Monrovia, Liberia, International Organization, 16f. 231 Beber et al., Peacekeeping and Transactional Sex in Monrovia, Liberia, International Organization, 15f; Bernd Beber et al., U.N. Peacekeeping and Transactional Sex, Washington Post, June 16, 2015, (accessed April 25, 2017). 232 Jennings and Nikolic-Ristanovic, UN Peacekeeping Economies and Local Sex Industries,

69 4.3. The Effect of the All-female Unit One of the main arguments for increased female participation in peacekeeping is the belief that female peacekeepers would be able to prevent their male colleagues from engaging in sexual exploitation and abuse. Therefore, this sections aims to see what kind of effect the all-female Indian unit had on sexual assault in Liberia as a whole and if they were able to prevent male peacekeepers from engaging in sexual exploitation and abuse. The direct effect of the all-female unit on the sexual assault rate in Liberia is hard to prove, not only because reliable statistics are hardly existent but also because there are no individual numbers for communities in Monrovia. So it will not be possible to compare let s say sexual assaults between Congo Town and another community in Monrovia. Therefore, this section has to rely on research that discussed this issue. The general perception of the unit seems to be that it is more capable at addressing and preventing sexual violence. 233 Supposedly sexual assault cases decreased in the areas the all-female unit was active in. The former head of UNMIL said that if the presence of [the Indian unit of] women helps to make the point that this [sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers] is not acceptable behavior, then, quite frankly, anything we can do beyond what we re doing now is welcome. 234 Some also give credit to the all-female unit for encouraging victims of sexual assault to stand up for themselves by reporting sexual assaults to the authorities, and thus reducing the occurrence of sexual assault in the long-term. This is connected to the previously mentioned assumption that the overall number of sexual assault incidents have not increased over the years but that the number of reports increased because of changes within the Liberian society. Nevertheless, this kind of view brings back the already mentioned problem of female peacekeepers being better suited for this issue just because 233 Huber, Power in Numbers? McConnell, All-female Unit keeps Peace in Liberia. 62

70 they are women. And as already mentioned, it is questionable that any of the mentioned changes happened solely due to the presence of the all-female unit. Another possible reason could be that a higher feeling of security exists in general. 235 Some straight out doubt that any kind of UNMIL presence can make a difference. For example, Mae Azango, a Liberian Journalist stated that whether UNMIL is here or is absent, it makes no difference because we have the first female president we have female ministers and yet still there is rape on the increase. 236 But the previously introduced study by Karim Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness: Does Gender Neutrality Inhibit Progress?, Liberia mentions that within communities that have only limited contact with female peacekeepers interaction with them does not lead to locals having the feeling that the security situation with regards to rape has much improved. 237 The study also pointed out that there exists a preference to have locals handle sexual assault incidents. This suggests that the all-female unit would need to have closer contact with the local population in order to have an effect on their perception of how sexual assault has changed. While evidence for the all-female unit s effect on sexual assault is scarce, it cannot be denied that the unit and other female peacekeepers within UNMIL had a hand in kick-starting institutional changes. As mentioned in the previous chapter, they were involved in the establishment of the Liberian national rape law, the National Action Plan on resolution 1325, and women and gender focused units within the LNP. These changes can be regarded as starting points that can be further developed. With regards to the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse by male peacekeepers, no reliable evidence or indications could be found that suggested that the all-female unit had any effect on this issue. It is even questionable how much contact the 235 Huber, Power in Numbers? 34f; Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," 7f. 236 Monique John, In Liberia, Girls and Women Face a Future without U.N. Peacekeepers, Women s enews, September 7, 2016, (accessed April 28, 2017). 237 Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions,

71 women of this unit had with their male colleagues. According to reports, the unit only left its base to carry out its duty and to pray. Therefore, it is unlikely that any of the positive influences female peacekeepers are supposed to have on their male counterparts actually took effect. The following section will address why the presence of female peacekeepers, as it is suggested by policy makers, does not seem to have an effect on the behavior of male peacekeepers. 238 It could be questioned whether any other UNMIL FPU could have achieved similar results as the all-female unit. Looking at the official tasks the FPUs had no difference could be detected as all units were primarily responsible for riot control, patrols and guard duties. And there are people that do not believe that the all-female unit influenced female empowerment at all. 239 A representative of UNMIL even stated that the unit did not have other impacts that distinguished it from other male FPUs. 240 But it should not be ignored that the all-female unit was the only FPU that held community programs where they taught local women about self-defense and sexual assault. It is possible that these programs contributed to local women feeling that they are able to stand up for themselves, especially in regards to sexual assault Different Perceptions of female peacekeepers and local women Policymakers support the belief that female peacekeepers can prevent male peacekeepers from sexual exploitation and abuse, but so far only a couple anecdotal statements exist that back this claim up. Therefore, the author of this thesis wonders whether it is possible that male peacekeepers perceive female peacekeepers and local women in a different way. This is by no means meant to be seen as a final conclusion for the issue at hand, just a possible reason that could be considered in future research. 238 Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions, 23 Grewal, All female UN squad a success. 239 Huber, Power in Numbers? Huber, Power in Numbers?

72 As seen in the Chapter 2 subsection Critics of arguments for more female participation, Karim argues that an increased number of female peacekeepers might not be able to let peacekeeping missions appear more approachable or more feminine, because of the possibility that the local population views them in a different way than they view local women. A different social background and the ability to freely interact with all kinds of different males might lead to locals not classifying female peacekeepers as women. So would it be possible to turn this point of view around and apply it to male peacekeepers? 241 Just going by the aforementioned argumentation it does seem possible that male peacekeepers also distinguish between female peacekeepers, usually women from the same country, culture and social background, and local women, that usually are part of a society that is unfamiliar to the peacekeepers. This would mean that even if the presence of female peacekeepers actually influences the behavior of male peacekeepers, this influence would not matter much. Part of it could also stem from how the resolutions of the Women, Peace and Security agenda describe the local females. Most of these resolutions describe local women as being in need of protection from sexual violence, and not as individual actors that are part of the peace process. Thus, a picture is created according to which local women are pushed into the role of a victim that is waiting to be saved. Now it could be argued that if local women are portrayed as victims that male peacekeepers could feel the need to protect them, but this section does not try to discuss whether male peacekeepers feel obligated to do so. This could also be a topic for future research. The role of the victims is definitely different from the role female peacekeepers take up. 242 To amplify this idea it feels necessary to quote Heathcote a second time. She writes 241 Karim, The Double-Edged Sword, 13ff. 242 Kirby and Shepherd, The futures past of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, International Affairs, 380; Heathcote, Participation, Gender and Security, 53ff. 65

73 that third-world female vulnerability [ ] becomes the justification for increased first-world women s participation. 243 As already stated this is only supposed give some food for thought and is not the final word on why female peacekeepers seem to have no evident effect on the behavior of their male colleagues. But in order to draw a firm conclusion more in-depth research will be needed Policy Recommendations The policy recommendations given within this section will be split into two part. The first will focus on how female peacekeepers can be utilized to prevent sexual assault cases in general and the second will give suggestions on how the UN could prevent sexual assault through peacekeepers from occurring. All recommendation will be given for peacekeeping missions in general since the all-female unit has already left Liberia and UNMIL is on its way out as well. It should also be noted that the following recommendations are not the only possible steps that can be taken in order to tackle sexual assault and exploitation, but they are deemed the most appropriate recommendations for the context of this thesis. 244 Policy recommendations on how sexual assault can be tackled in general are as follows. Based on the case of the all-female Indian unit which was placed in an area that did not need as much focus on female empowerment as other mostly rural regions, it appears that it would be of advantage to have more female peacekeepers stationed in areas that are in need of exposure to female empowerment. And since an all-female unit limits the exposure of female peacekeepers, even more, it should be considered whether spreading them over several units might have a bigger effect. But in that case, attention needs to be paid to the fact that a certain amount of 243 Heathcote, Participation, Gender and Security, For a more through out discussion of possible policy recommendations please see: Refugee International, Must Boys be Boys? Ending Sexual Exploitation & Abuse in UN Peacekeeping Missions (Washington DC: Refugee International, 2005). 66

74 women need to be stationed within the unit in order to make a noticeable difference in general. The fact that the number of women available to UN peacekeeping missions is still rather small will definitely pose a problem. Until a sufficient amount of female peacekeepers are available, an interim solution will be needed. As already mentioned, all-female units could be sent to the regions where they are needed the most. 245 In the case that after closer contact with female peacekeepers the local population still predominantly prefers domestic actors to handle sexual assault cases, female peacekeepers could help set up activities that educate on how to handle and prevent sexual assault. Such activities should especially focus on local policewomen. In addition, female peacekeepers should continue pushing for institutional changes. Once first changes have taken place local women should have an easier time joining and pushing for additional changes. 246 With regards to the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers, the UN needs to change its perception of the problem, instead of seeing sexual exploitation and abuse as an issue that arises due to the occasional misconduct of individual peacekeepers, the issue should be seen as a systematic problem. 247 Otherwise, the first part of this statement by Richard Reeve, a researcher at Chatham House, will hold true. He said that "the UN will never get rid of the problem, but they are really dealing with it and putting changes into practice." 248 But until institutional changes take place, other solutions could include the following. One solution could be to include more mission personnel that comes from countries with more gender equality within their society because peacekeeping missions with personnel from such countries reportedly have fewer incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse. Since such 245 Huber, Power in Numbers? 74ff; Carey, Women and Peace and Security, International Peacekeeping. 246 Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions, 19; Karim, The Double-Edged Sword, Jennings and Nikolic-Ristanovic, UN Peacekeeping Economies and Local Sex Industries, McConnell, All-female Unit keeps Peace in Liberia. 67

75 troops usually come from more developed countries it is idealistic to create a whole mission with personnel from countries with more gender equality, however, filling leading positions within the missions with people from such countries could have some effect. This does not imply that peacekeepers from countries with more gender equality cannot be perpetrators of sexual assault; in 2015 French peacekeepers had been accused of sexual assaulting children. 249 Another way of tackling the issue could be through the development of alternative monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. 250 Instead of having one unit, usually the Conduct and Discipline Unit (CDU), handle both the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse as well as the investigation of allegations, different units should be handling the two tasks. It is argued that some allegations could be swept under the rug since a high number of allegations could mean that the unit is not handling prevention very well. 251 And lastly, the idea that more women will be able to prevent male peacekeepers from committing sexual assault should be laid to rest. So far little evidence is available that backs this claim up, besides the assumption that women will make a difference just because they are women. In the case that there really is a difference in how male peacekeepers perceive female peacekeepers and local women, adding more women will not have an effect anyways. It is more important to provide both genders with special training on gender equality and how to handle cases of sexual exploitation and abuse. During these training, it is possible to challenge 249 Beber et al., Peacekeeping and Transactional Sex in Monrovia, Liberia, International Organization, 26; Elsa Buchanan, DRC: Five UN peacekeepers suspended over fresh sexual abuse claims, International Business Times, April 28, 2017, (accessed April 29, 2017); Remenyi, Does the Inclusion of Women in Peace Building Processes Make a Difference? 250 Beber et al., Peacekeeping and Transactional Sex in Monrovia, Liberia, International Organization, Beber et al., Peacekeeping and Transactional Sex in Monrovia, Liberia, International Organization,

76 traditional beliefs about gender roles, since such beliefs have been learned and can thus, be unlearned Huber, Power in Numbers? 35; Karim and Beardsley, Explaining sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions, Journal of Peace Research,

77 5. Conclusion The aim of this thesis was to figure out whether the increased presence of female peacekeepers can help prevent sexual assaults from happening. The findings on the particular case of the all-female Indian unit in Liberia suggest that certain conditions have to be meet and that some limitations need to be faced. Due to the delicate nature of sexual assault as a crime and the insufficient data available, it is close to impossible to draw any concrete conclusions on the effect female peacekeepers have, but it is possible to build up on some of the implications the findings provided. With regards to the effect female peacekeepers have on sexual assault in general, results seem to depend immensely on whether the local population has close contact with female peacekeepers or not. While people that had a lot of contact with female peacekeepers stated that they felt more protected from assaults such as rape, people that had only minimal contact with female peacekeepers did not think that they were better protected from sexual assaults. They also tended to think that local security forces should handle such cases instead of the foreign ones. It is conceivable that more contact with female peacekeepers in general could counter this kind of perception to some extent, but that would mean that female peacekeepers should not be deployed within one single unit. All-female units seem to have a bigger effect on the population they are exposed to due to many women carrying out tasks that are primarily considered to be occupied by males. But focusing female peacekeepers into one single unit also means that exposure only happens within on specific area or community. Therefore, it is hoped that spreading female peacekeepers over several units could expose more parts of the local population to gender equality. Mixed gender units would be the way to go, but since the UN is lacking sufficient numbers of female peacekeepers in order to create units with an equal amount of female and male 70

78 peacekeepers another solution could be to send all-female units to regions where exposure to gender equality is needed the most. Another challenge is that the possibility exists that the local population perceives local and foreign women in a different way. This perception could diminish any kind of influence female peacekeepers have, regardless if it is that more female peacekeepers supposedly let peace missions appear less threatening or that sexual assault is decreasing. In that case female peacekeepers can still make a difference by advocating for institutional changes in regards to female security and empowerment. The right institutional changes can be a turning point for society s perception of women and pave the way for future developments. The all-female unit did not just have an active hand in establishing the national rape law and a Gender Unit within the LNP, the unit also taught classes on sexual violence and self-defense. Thus, providing local women with the means to defend themselves and stand-up for themselves. In the long-run, the aforementioned actions can lead to stronger women s rights and decreased sexual assault incidents. Concerning the question whether female peacekeepers can prevent their male colleagues from committing sexual exploitation and assault little evidence can be found besides some anecdotal reports and hopes expressed by policymakers. This does not mean that female peacekeepers are not doing their jobs, instead it should lead to reconsidering whether female peacekeepers should really, so to say, be held responsible for the behavior of their male counterparts. It also begs the question as to why female participation in peacekeeping needs to be justified in such ways while male participation never needed any kind of reasoning. Or as Karim puts it there are no specific expectations about male peacekeepers. Policymakers have not had to justify the presence of male peacekeepers in the same way. 253 Seeing how none of the reports 253 Karim, Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness, International Interactions, 6. 71

79 and findings give reason to think that female peacekeepers are less capable than male ones, now would be the time to stop justifying increased female representation with arguments that are built on traditional gender stereotypes. Would it not be better to use the rights-based argument instead? This argument is usually cast aside since instead of listing all kinds of arguments in favor of its reasoning it just states that the participation of women in peacekeeping operations should be a right that does not need any kind of additional justification. People that still question this right could be convinced otherwise by showing them reports on how female peacekeepers, and the allfemale Indian unit in particular, have been carrying out their assigned tasks. It should be mentioned that by changing the approach that is used to argue for more female participation in peacekeeping a change in perspective is taking place as well. The effectiveness-based argument mainly focused on how female peacekeepers can help and strengthen local women, while the rights-based argument seemingly puts the focus on female peacekeepers alone. But in the longrun, this argument can also help local women as they are no longer only seen as the victims of a conflict that need saving, but they can also be seen as active agents that are able to stand up for themselves. This measure might appear somewhat over the top and too definite, but it might come with one very important advantage. One conflict female peacekeepers are facing it that while they want to be perceived like their male colleagues, they also seem to have the wish to help with further empowering local women. This usually poses a problem because if they focus on being viewed as equal to their peers they might come across as disconnected from female issue, while focusing on community projects for women and girls could have the side effect of female peacekeepers appearing to be limited to gender issues. This could mean that they are not being taken seriously as fully capable peacekeeping personnel. If the argument for more female participation is indeed changed from an effectiveness argument to the rights-based argument, it could possibly mean that this sword of 72

80 Damocles, that is hanging over their heads could be removed. Without the notion that female peacekeepers add certain gender aspects to peacekeeping missions, it might be easier for them to fulfill both desires. As just mentioned, female peacekeepers appear to be very interested in engaging in community outreach projects, but there is reason to believe that the promotion of gender equality could be more effective when both male and female peacekeepers get involved. Encouraging male peacekeepers to join community programs or to create their own, would also show that gender equality and female empowerment do not have to rely on one gender only. And again the conflict of interests that the female peacekeepers are facing could be defused. On top of that special training on gender issues should be provided to all troops before they are send into the field. But it is important that these trainings do not turn into quick lessons and thus, are not internalized by the peacekeepers. This seems to be an issue, as one UNMIL staff member stated: It s too intensive. You get bombarded with information and it happens right after you ve been traveling. It s hard to remember anything that came out of it. 254 Lastly, while it definitely can be said that increasing female participation in peacekeeping is more than just add and stir, it should not be forgotten that gender issues and increased female participation within peacekeeping missions are just two of the many problems that influence the outcome of a peace operation. The whole problematic needs to be seen within the full context of peacekeeping missions. Another challenge the UN needs to face is how it can get the troop contributing countries to send more women and implement their own National Actions Plans on the Women, Peace and Security agenda. 254 Refugee International, Must Boys be Boys?

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92 7. Annex 7.1. Tables Table 1: Gender Statistics by Missions (March, 2017) 255 Military Military Expert Troops Military total Individual Police Formed Police Units Mission M F total M F total M F total M F total Police Police total Grand total MINURSO MINUSCA , ,108 10, , ,413 1,696 12,208 MINUSMA , ,024 11, ,278 12,338 MINUSTAH 2, ,343 2, , ,649 2,414 4,757 MONUSCO , ,937 17, ,050 1,365 18,780 UNAMA UNAMI UNAMID , ,607 13,778 1, ,459 1, ,808 3,267 17,045 UNDOF UNFICYP The table has been recreated from the original in order to fit the layout of this thesis. UN, Gender Statistics by Mission,

93 UNIFIL 10, ,556 10, ,556 UNISFA , ,393 4, ,533 UNMC UNMIK UNMIL UNMISS , ,555 11, ,508 13,255 UNMOGIP UNOCI UNSOM UNSOS UNTSO totals 1, ,791 83,395 2,862 86,257 88,048 3, ,390 7, ,512 12, ,950 Table 2: Gender Statistics for UNMIL Military Component (January 2007) 256 Military Observers Staff Officers Contingent Troop Military Total M F total M F total M F total M F total UNMIL , ,698 13, , The table has been partly recreated from the original. UN, Gender Statistics by Mission,

94 Table 3: National Action Plans by Country 257 Country Year launched Afghanistan 2015 Argentina 2015 Australia 2012 Austria 2007 (revised 2012) Belgium 2009 (second 2013) Bosnia and Herzegovina 2010 (second 2014) Burkina Faso 2012 Burundi 2011 Canada 2010 Central African Republic 2014 Chile 2009 (second 2015) Cote d Ivoire 2008 Croatia 2011 Democratic Republic of the Congo 2010 Denmark 2005 (updated 2008, 2014) Estonia 2010 Finland 2008 (second 2012) France 2010 (second 2015) Georgia 2012 Germany 2013 Ghana 2012 Guinea 2009 Guinea-Bissau 2010 Iceland 2008 (second 2013) Indonesia 2014 Iraq 2014 Ireland 2011 (second 2015) Italy 2010 (second 2014) Japan 2015 Kenya 2016 Kosovo 2014 Kyrgyzstan 2013 Liberia 2009 Lithuania 2011 Macedonia Since some of the National Action Plans have expired and haven t been updated as of January 02, 2017 (for example: Cote d Ivoire in 2012 or Austria in 2016), and others weren t set for a certain period, like the National Action Plan of Gambia, this table will be updated through out the research period. It should also be noted that some plans were launched at the end of a year but only took effect starting from the following year. For example: Burundi launched its National Action Plan in December 2011 but it became effective in The data was combined from Peace Women, Member States, 2016; and Inclusive Security, National Action Plan Resource Center, (accessed January 02, 2017). 87

95 Mali 2012 Nepal 2011 New Zealand 2015 Nigeria 2013 Norway 2006 (second 2011, third 2015) Palestine 2015 Paraguay 2015 Portugal 2009 (second 2014) Republic of Korea 2014 Rwanda 2009 Senegal 2011 Serbia 2010 Sierra Leone 2010 Slovenia 2010 Spain 2007 Sweden 2006 (second 2009, extended 2012, third 2016) Switzerland 2007 (second 2010, third 2013) Tajikistan 2014 The Gambia 2014 The Netherlands 2007 (revised 2012, third 2016) The Philippines 2010 Timor-Leste 2016 Togo 2011 Uganda 2008 Ukraine 2016 United Kingdom 2006 (second 2010, third 2014) United States 2011 (second 2016) Table 4: Rape and Sexual Abuse Cases in Liberia in Type of Crime Jan Feb March April May June July August Sept Oct Nov Dec Rape Sexual Abuse The table has been partly recreated from the original. Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality, 7. 88

96 Table 5: Ministry of Justice - Number of Sexual Offenses committed per month in Liberia (November 2014 to October 2015) 259 Offences Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Total Corruption of Minor Gang Rape Attempted Rape Sodomy Rape Sexual Assault Sexual Harassment Statutory Rape Total Figures Figure 1: Comparative analysis of rape figures in Liberia The table has been recreated from the original in order to fit the layout of this thesis. Ministry of Justice Republic of Liberia. Annual Report, Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality, 8. 89

97 7.3. Maps Map 1: Liberia UN, Map UNMIL, 2017, (accessed May 02, 2017). 90

98 Map 2: Greater Monrovia262 n er io sit y Nat al 262 Ch engchi i n U v UC Berkeley Library, Monrovia Map, 2003, (accessed May 02, 2017). 91

99 Map 3: Congo Town UC Berkeley Library, Monrovia Map,