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5. Conclusion
The aim of this thesis was to figure out whether the increased presence of female peacekeepers can help prevent sexual assaults from happening. The findings on the particular case of the all-female Indian unit in Liberia suggest that certain conditions have to be meet and that some limitations need to be faced. Due to the delicate nature of sexual assault as a crime and the insufficient data available, it is close to impossible to draw any concrete conclusions on the effect female peacekeepers have, but it is possible to build up on some of the implications the findings provided.
With regards to the effect female peacekeepers have on sexual assault in general, results seem to depend immensely on whether the local population has close contact with female peacekeepers or not. While people that had a lot of contact with female peacekeepers stated that they felt more protected from assaults such as rape, people that had only minimal contact with female peacekeepers did not think that they were better protected from sexual assaults. They also tended to think that local security forces should handle such cases instead of the foreign ones. It is conceivable that more contact with female peacekeepers in general could counter this kind of perception to some extent, but that would mean that female peacekeepers should not be deployed within one single unit. All-female units seem to have a bigger effect on the population they are exposed to due to many women carrying out tasks that are primarily considered to be occupied by males. But focusing female peacekeepers into one single unit also means that exposure only happens within on specific area or community. Therefore, it is hoped that spreading female peacekeepers over several units could expose more parts of the local population to gender equality. Mixed gender units would be the way to go, but since the UN is lacking sufficient numbers of female peacekeepers in order to create units with an equal amount of female and male
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peacekeepers another solution could be to send all-female units to regions where exposure to gender equality is needed the most.
Another challenge is that the possibility exists that the local population perceives local and foreign women in a different way. This perception could diminish any kind of influence female peacekeepers have, regardless if it is that more female peacekeepers supposedly let peace missions appear less threatening or that sexual assault is decreasing. In that case female peacekeepers can still make a difference by advocating for institutional changes in regards to female security and empowerment. The right institutional changes can be a turning point for society’s perception of women and pave the way for future developments. The all-female unit did not just have an active hand in establishing the national rape law and a Gender Unit within the LNP, the unit also taught classes on sexual violence and self-defense. Thus, providing local women with the means to defend themselves and stand-up for themselves. In the long-run, the aforementioned actions can lead to stronger women’s rights and decreased sexual assault incidents.
Concerning the question whether female peacekeepers can prevent their male colleagues from committing sexual exploitation and assault little evidence can be found besides some anecdotal reports and hopes expressed by policymakers. This does not mean that female peacekeepers are not doing their jobs, instead it should lead to reconsidering whether female peacekeepers should really, so to say, be held responsible for the behavior of their male counterparts. It also begs the question as to why female participation in peacekeeping needs to be justified in such ways while male participation never needed any kind of reasoning. Or as Karim puts it “there are no specific expectations about male peacekeepers. Policymakers have not had to
‘justify’ the presence of male peacekeepers in the same way.”253 Seeing how none of the reports
253 Karim, “Reevaluating Peacekeeping Effectiveness,” International Interactions, 6.
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and findings give reason to think that female peacekeepers are less capable than male ones, now would be the time to stop justifying increased female representation with arguments that are built on traditional gender stereotypes. Would it not be better to use the rights-based argument instead?
This argument is usually cast aside since instead of listing all kinds of arguments in favor of its reasoning it just states that the participation of women in peacekeeping operations should be a right that does not need any kind of additional justification. People that still question this right could be convinced otherwise by showing them reports on how female peacekeepers, and the all-female Indian unit in particular, have been carrying out their assigned tasks. It should be mentioned that by changing the approach that is used to argue for more female participation in peacekeeping a change in perspective is taking place as well. The effectiveness-based argument mainly focused on how female peacekeepers can help and strengthen local women, while the rights-based argument seemingly puts the focus on female peacekeepers alone. But in the long-run, this argument can also help local women as they are no longer only seen as the victims of a conflict that need saving, but they can also be seen as active agents that are able to stand up for themselves. This measure might appear somewhat over the top and too definite, but it might come with one very important advantage.
One conflict female peacekeepers are facing it that while they want to be perceived like their male colleagues, they also seem to have the wish to help with further empowering local women.
This usually poses a problem because if they focus on being viewed as equal to their peers they might come across as disconnected from female issue, while focusing on community projects for women and girls could have the side effect of female peacekeepers appearing to be limited to gender issues. This could mean that they are not being taken seriously as fully capable peacekeeping personnel. If the argument for more female participation is indeed changed from an effectiveness argument to the rights-based argument, it could possibly mean that this sword of
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Damocles, that is hanging over their heads could be removed. Without the notion that female peacekeepers add certain gender aspects to peacekeeping missions, it might be easier for them to fulfill both desires.
As just mentioned, female peacekeepers appear to be very interested in engaging in community outreach projects, but there is reason to believe that the promotion of gender equality could be more effective when both male and female peacekeepers get involved. Encouraging male peacekeepers to join community programs or to create their own, would also show that gender equality and female empowerment do not have to rely on one gender only. And again the conflict of interests that the female peacekeepers are facing could be defused. On top of that special training on gender issues should be provided to all troops before they are send into the field. But it is important that these trainings do not turn into quick lessons and thus, are not internalized by the peacekeepers. This seems to be an issue, as one UNMIL staff member stated:
“It’s too intensive. You get bombarded with information and it happens right after you’ve been traveling. It’s hard to remember anything that came out of it.”254
Lastly, while it definitely can be said that increasing female participation in peacekeeping is more than just ‘add and stir’, it should not be forgotten that gender issues and increased female participation within peacekeeping missions are just two of the many problems that influence the outcome of a peace operation. The whole problematic needs to be seen within the full context of peacekeeping missions. Another challenge the UN needs to face is how it can get the troop contributing countries to send more women and implement their own National Actions Plans on the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
254 Refugee International, “Must Boys be Boys?“20.
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