U.N. envoy says peacekeepers need equality lessons
By Michelle Nichols

09 Febuary 2007 (Reuters)- The outgoing U.N. Ivory Coast envoy said on Friday the world body should use an "enforcer" to teach peacekeepers how to treat women, while combating a lack of urgency and awareness among its staff.

Pierre Schori is leaving his post after two years as the U.N. secretary-general's envoy to the West African country, where 11,000 French and U.N. peacekeepers protect a fragile cease-fire between a rebel-held north and government-run south.

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower, has been divided since a brief civil war in 2002-03.
"It was quite shocking and at the same time the most rewarding professional experience I have ever had," Schori, a former Swedish politician, professor and diplomat, told a news conference.

Schori said his end-of-assignment report recommended the United Nations create an "enforcer" to ensure implementation of a resolution requiring peacekeepers to see women not only as victims of conflict but also as actors for peace.

"You need to train peacekeepers coming from cultures where women are not on an equal footing with men -- not in order to criticize but in order to illuminate everybody so we are on the same level on U.N. core values," he said.

The problem, he said, "has to do with, in the worst cases, sexual abuse, exploitation, pedophilia, stuff like that."

"We have zero tolerance on this and this must be explained in advance and implemented," he said.
Allegations of sexual abuse have dogged U.N. missions in Ivory Coast, Liberia, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the world body has accused members of its biggest peacekeeping force of rape and giving children food or money in return for sex.

Schori said the gender-awareness "enforcer" should "go to troop contributing countries to set up a special cell in the defense department and, above all, see to it that you get an induction of troops before they go out on a mission."

"The gap between doctrine, resolution and implementation in the field is enormous and it's detrimental to the peace process," he said.

The "enforcer" should be a man, he added, because everyone else dealing with gender at the United Nations was female.

"I found here, there, some lack of a sense of urgency and of crisis awareness. This is a mission ... dealing with peace and security, life and death, so you can also work on Saturday morning. That was not appreciated by all," he said.

"It's not an ordinary job, it's a difficult but noble cause to be sent out to work for peace development and democracy," Schori said. "We cannot preach good governance to others if we don't practice it ourselves."

From: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09162270.htm