United Nations Security Council Resolution 2272 – United Nations peacekeeping operations
Resolution 2272 (2016)
The Security Council,
Recalling the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and bearing in mind its primary responsibility under the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security,
Recalling the Statements by its President of 31 May 2005 (S/PRST/2005/21), 25 November 2015 (S/PRST/2015/22) and 31 December 2015 (S/PRST/2015/26), as well as its resolution 2242 (2015) and press statement of 18 August 2015,
Reaffirming that proper conduct by, and discipline over, all personnel deployed in United Nations peace operations are crucial to their effectiveness,
Stressing that sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers undermines the implementation of peacekeeping mandates, as well as the credibility of United Nations peacekeeping, and reaffirming its support for the United Nations zero tolerance policy on all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse,
Expressing deep concern about the serious and continuous allegations and under-reporting of sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers and non-United Nations forces, including military, civilian and police personnel, and underscoring that sexual exploitation and abuse, among other crimes and forms of serious misconduct, by any such personnel is unacceptable,
Recalling the primary responsibility of troop-contributing countries to investigate allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by their personnel and of troop- and police-contributing countries to hold accountable, including through prosecution, where appropriate, their personnel for acts of sexual exploitation and abuse, taking into account due process,
Honouring the heroic work of tens of thousands of United Nations peacekeepers, underscoring that the United Nations should not let the actions of a few tarnish the achievements of the whole and commending the troop- and police-contributing countries that have taken steps to prevent, investigate and hold accountable their personnel for acts of sexual exploitation and abuse,
Welcoming the Secretary-General’s continued efforts to implement and reinforce the United Nations zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, in particular to strengthen the Organisation’s prevention, reporting, enforcement and remedial action in order to promote greater accountability,
Welcoming the appointment by the Secretary-General of Jane Holl Lute as his Special Coordinator on Improving the United Nations Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse,
Taking note of the report of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (S/2015/446), the report of the Secretary-General entitled ‘The Future of United Nations Peace Operations: Implementation of the Recommendations of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations’ (A/70/357-S/2015/682), the report of the External Independent Review of the United Nations Response to Allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the Central African Republic submitted on 17 December 2015 to the Secretary-General, the report of the Secretary-General of 17 September 2015 submitting the results of the Global Study on the implementation of resolution 1325 (S/2015/716), as well as the report of 4 March 2016 of the Secretary-General on Special measures for protection and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (A/70/729), and taking note of the recommendations contained therein related to the prevention and combating of sexual exploitation and abuse,
- Endorses the decision of the Secretary-General to repatriate a particular military unit or formed police unit of a contingent when there is credible evidence of widespread or systemic sexual exploitation and abuse by that unit and requests the Secretary-General to give immediate and ongoing effect to this decision, including by urgently finalising his guidance to United Nations peacekeeping operations to implement this decision;
2. Requests the Secretary-General, when a particular troop-contributing country whose personnel are the subject of an allegation or allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse has not taken appropriate steps to investigate the allegation and/or when the particular troop- or police-contributing country has not held the perpetrators accountable or informed the Secretary-General of the progress of its investigations and/or actions taken, to replace all military units and/or formed police units of the troop- or police-contributing country in the United Nations peacekeeping operation where the allegation or allegations arose with uniformed personnel from a different troop- or police-contributing country, as applicable and further requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the replacement troop- or police-contributing country has upheld standards of conduct and discipline and appropriately addressed allegations against or confirmed acts, if any, of sexual exploitation and abuse by its personnel;
3. Consistent with paragraph 2 above regarding repatriation, requests the Secretary-General to assess whether a Member State has taken the appropriate steps to investigate, hold accountable and inform him of the progress of its investigations when determining whether that Member State should participate in other current or future United Nations peacekeeping operations;
4. Requests the Secretary-General to gather and preserve evidence ahead of investigations of sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations peace oper ations with due consideration for the safety, security and confidentiality of victims, to ensure that the concerned United Nations peace operation takes immediate steps to prevent, including through risk assessments, future incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse, to strengthen the accessibility, coordination and independence of processes for complaint receipt and management and to assist victims, including by maintaining confidentiality, helping to minimize trauma and facilitating access, as appropriate, to immediate care, medical and psychological support;
5. Welcomes the efforts of the Secretary-General to expand vetting of all United Nations peacekeeping personnel to ensure that they do not have a history of sexual misconduct in service with the United Nations and reiterates its support for the United Nations Human Rights Screening Policy;
6. Expresses deep concern over the continuing and serious allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), as well as in other United Nations peacekeeping operations and by non-United Nations forces;
7. Urges all non-United Nations forces authorised under a Security Council mandate to take adequate measures to prevent and combat impunity for sexual exploitation and abuse by their personnel;
8. Calls upon Member States deploying non-United Nations forces authorized under a Security Council mandate to take appropriate steps to investigate allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse, hold perpetrators accountable and repatriate units when there is credible evidence of widespread or systemic sexual exploitation or abuse by those units;
9. Urges all Member States to take concrete steps aimed at preventing and combating impunity for sexual exploitation and abuse by members of United Nations peace operations;
10. Welcomes the ongoing efforts by Member States to strengthen sexual exploitation and abuse pre-deployment training of troop and police contributors to United Nations peace operations, urges further efforts by all troop- and police-contributing countries to deliver robust sexual exploitation and abuse pre-deployment training in accordance with the terms of their memoranda of understanding and other agreements with the United Nations, encourages further assistance by Member States and multilateral partners to troop- and police-contributing countries in this regard and welcomes the decision of the Secretary-General to require certificates of compliance by troop- and police-contributors to this effect;
11. Urges all troop-contributing countries to take the steps necessary to conduct investigations of allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by their personnel and to conclude such investigations as expeditiously as possible, in line with the Secretary-General’s request, further urges all troop- and police-contributing countries to take appropriate steps to hold accountable those personnel responsible for sexual exploitation and abuse and to report to the United Nations fully and promptly on actions undertaken and welcomes the request by the Secretary-General for troop- and police-contributing countries to deploy national investigation officers in their contingents to support these efforts;
12. Underscores the critical importance that civilians, in particular women and children, in internally-displaced persons and refugee sites are protected from any form of abuse or exploitation, requests the Secretary-General, where applicable,to continue to take steps to enhance measures in United Nations peace operations against all forms of abuse and exploitation of civilians by any member of the United Nations peace operation and encourages the Secretary-General to ensure that United Nations peace operations, as applicable, facilitate the identification of possible abuses and mitigate against the stigmatization of victims;
13. Encourages the appropriate United Nations mechanisms, including those related to Children and Armed Conflict, Women, Peace and Security and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to continue to include allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in their regular reporting to the Secretary-General and calls upon the Secretary-General to immediately inform the concerned Member State about any such allegations and to take steps to improve internal information-sharing within the United Nations regarding allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse.
Adopted by the Security Council at its 7643rd meeting, on 11 March 2016.
