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Human Rights Coun­cil — A/HRC/58/52
Report of the Spe­cial Rap­por­teur on the sale, sex­u­al exploita­tion and sex­u­al abuse of chil­dren, Mama Fati­ma Singhateh

 

State­ment by Pro­fes­sor Michel Veuthey

Ambas­sador to mon­i­tor and com­bat traf­fick­ing in persons, 

Deputy Per­ma­nent Observ­er in Geneva
Gene­va, 13 March 2025

Mr. Pres­i­dent, Excellencies,

The Sov­er­eign Order of Mal­ta thanks the Spe­cial Rap­por­teur, Mrs. Mama Fati­ma Sing­hateh, for her report on the sex­u­al abuse of chil­dren in peace­keep­ing and human­i­tar­i­an contexts.

The Order of Mal­ta is deeply con­cerned about the lev­el of impuni­ty and the gaps in account­abil­i­ty mech­a­nisms that allow such crimes to con­tin­ue. Reports of sex­u­al vio­lence in con­flict zones high­light the exploita­tion of chil­dren in exchange for neces­si­ties such as food and med­ical care. The fail­ure of troop-con­tribut­ing coun­tries to pros­e­cute per­pe­tra­tors and inad­e­quate vic­tim sup­port struc­tures con­tin­ue to enable these abuses.

 

The Order of Mal­ta sup­ports the rec­om­men­da­tions of the Spe­cial Rap­por­teur to:

  • Ensure that child pro­tec­tion is inte­grat­ed into all human­i­tar­i­an and peace­keep­ing oper­a­tions through a child rights-based approach. The rights, safe­ty and dig­ni­ty of chil­dren must be prioritized.
  • Strength­en account­abil­i­ty mech­a­nisms, includ­ing the estab­lish­ment of a spe­cial tri­bunal or inde­pen­dent body to inves­ti­gate and pros­e­cute cas­es of child sex­u­al abuse com­mit­ted by UN per­son­nel and peacekeepers.
  • Ensure access to jus­tice, med­ical and psy­choso­cial sup­port, legal assis­tance for pater­ni­ty claims, and access to the UN Trust Fund for Vic­tims through vic­tim-cen­tered approaches.
  • Enforce legal frame­works to ensure that troop-con­tribut­ing coun­tries exer­cise juris­dic­tion over their per­son­nel and take con­crete steps to pros­e­cute offenders.

The Order of Mal­ta wish­es to ask the fol­low­ing question:

  • What resources will be avail­able to imple­ment these recommendations?
    Is there a pro­pos­al to raise the nec­es­sary funds?

The Sov­er­eign Order of Mal­ta would wel­come an increased col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Spe­cial Rapporteur. 

Thank you.