Reparations for Victims of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity

IntroductionThis chapter focuses on remedies and reparation for sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrated in conflict and post-conflict settings by those with a specific mandate to help: peacekeepers and associated personnel and the staff of humanitarian aid agencies.For many years, the phenomenon was known but not often considered.The victims -often the most marginalised in their communities and further isolated and stigmatised by their experiences of sexual exploitation and abuse -had little voice and limited opportunity, incentive or trust to complain about their ill-treatment and to seek to hold their abusers accountable.Most agencies aware of abuses did little to publicly address the problem.Owing to concerns about negative publicity which could potentially affect donor funding, supply of troop contingents or other types of support and also the fears about subjecting their employees or experts on mission to the whims of local justice systems, typically local police were not even informed by agencies of the wrongdoing.Simply and quietly, suspect individuals tended to be dismissed and, in the case of expatriates, repatriated.Virtually nothing was done to address the harm suffered by victims.Over time, this practice evolved.The phenomenon of sexual exploitation and abuse has received more attention, owing to strong, though sporadic, media attention.