Why does SEA occur in connection to international peacekeeping missions; how prevalent is it; and what accounts for variations in and between different peacekeeping operations? These are questions that this project will address and which have not been addressed on a systematic and statistical level of this magnitude in any studies to date.
This project focuses on garnering more systematic knowledge about SEA in peacekeeping. This has potentially wide-ranging security implications for current and future peace operations. The research questions guiding the project is: when, how and why is sexual violence and abuse used within and across peacekeeping operations? Answering this question is useful for improving policies of prevention. To answer this research question this project will establish a large-N dataset on SEA in and between the 35 international peacekeeping operations active since 1999. Specifically, we will provide a systematic account of the reported and punished SEA over time and between peace operations, to allow for comparison of cases of known high prevalence of SEA as well as cases of no reports. We will also collect data on particular mission-specific factors, troop-sending country factors, local condition factors or context specific aspects of particular interactions or combinations of these factors that may explain why reported SEA varies between different peacekeeping contexts and actors.
The project was funded by the Folke Bernadotte Academy.
