Compilation of Guidance and Directives on Disciplinary Issues for All Categories of Personnel Serving in United Nations Peacekeeping and Other Field Missions

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• DPKO Briefing on Disciplinary Issues •

The Department for Peacekeepoing Operations officially presented this compilation of “Guidance and Directives of Disciplinary Issues for All Categories of Personnel Serving in UN Peacekeeping and Other Field Missions,” in the form of a CD-ROM, to all peacekeeping-contributing countries during a briefing on disciplinary issues 19 March 2004:

Uniformed Personnel:
1. Ten Rules Code of Personnel Conduct for Blue Helmets (summary) and We are UN Peacekeepers pocket card (issued and sent out to missions and Member States in 1997)
2. Secretary-General's Bulletin on International Humanitarian Law (1999)
3. Directives for Disciplinary Matters Involving Military Contingents
4. Directives for Disciplinary Matters Involving Military Observers and Civilian Police
5. Sexual Harassment Directives
6. Undertaking for UNMOs
7. Undertaking for CivPol
8. Public Information Guidelines For Allegations of Misconduct Committed by Personnel of United Nations Peacekeeping and Other Field Missions

While the directives for uniformed personnel list sexual exploitation and abuse as a form of serious misconduct, one of the major weaknesses is that the directives do not define sexual exploitation for uniformed personnel in the same way that the Secretary-General's Bulletin on sexual abuse and exploitation does for civilians.

While DPKO has said that it expects uniformed personnel to abide by the standards set out in the Secretary-General's Bulletin (2003), strictly speaking, as a UN regulation, it only applies to civilian personnel.

Civilian Personnel:
1. UN Charter
2. Staff Rules and Regulations
3. Revised Disciplinary Measures and Procedures (ST/AI/371) (1991)
4. Procedures for Dealing with Sexual Harassment (ST/AI/379) (1992)
5. Secretary-General's Bulletin on status, basic rights and duties of staff (2002)
6. Secretary-General's Bulletin on Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (October 2003) (Available)


A major challenge to the use and implementation of these disiplinary directives, is the lack of detailed guidelines for missions on how to use the existing disciplinary directives. The Under-Secretary-General Mr. Guehenno, in his statement to the open debate of the Security Council on women, peace and security, October 2003, committed to continuing "to work on ensuring that senior managers in missions know how to use and apply the disciplinary directives, and that they have the in-mission capacity to investigate allegations. Training, reporting and follow-up mechanisms will also be strengthened."

In November 2003, the Secretary-General requested the Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs (ECHA) to establish a working group to design a system for implementation of the Secretary-General's Bulletin on "Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (October 2003) applicable to all parts of the UN system in the field. In collaboration with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Task Force on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Crises, the working group has agreed on 4 measures,"aimed at ensuring consistent and coherent implementation of the bulletin." These 4 meaures are outlined in the April 2004 Report of the Secretary-General on "Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse."

Briefing on Disciplinary Issues: Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse
DPKO, 19 March 2004
This briefing was delivered by the Peacekeeping Best Practices Unit to the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations at the Briefing on Disciplinary Issues on 19 March, 2004. It describes key elements and definitions of sexual abuse and exploitation, provides DPKO’s responses to them, and outlines the implementation of disciplinary directives related to these issues. From: http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/lessons/

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