EU Presidency Statement - Sexual Exploitation of Refugees

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the countries associated with the EU - Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey - as well as the EFTA countries of Iceland and Liechtenstein align themselves with this statement.

We would like to thank the Office of Internal Oversight Services for its report on the investigation into sexual exploitation of refugees by aid workers in West Africa (document A/57/465). However, we believe it would be appropriate to have a gender-balanced composition for the investigation teams in such cases.

Sexual exploitation, particularly in the case of vulnerable persons, depending on international aid, is completely unacceptable. Those who are found to have engaged in such appalling acts must be held accountable. The agency which employs them should terminate their contract and, when there is sufficient evidence, legal action must be taken. In this connection, we would like to underline the importance of the plan of action developed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) task force referred to in the report, which contains guidelines for humanitarian organizations when facing these problems. The EU fully supports the recommendations in the IASC plan of action, which was recently adopted by the humanitarian community. We will actively support its implementation and closely monitor whether the proposed actions will prove to be sufficient.

Concerning the report under discussion, the way some cases are presented, could have been, perhaps, in our view, more delicate.

The European Union concurs with the recommendations of the Office of Internal Oversight Services. Cases of sexual exploitation of refugees must be prevented.

I thank you Mr. Chairman.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Report of the UN High Comissioner for Refugees (3/11/2003)