ANALYSIS ON THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF FEMALE PEACEKEEPERS WITH THE DECREASE OF SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE ALLEGATIONS IN MONUSCO (2015-2020)

Abstract

Ever since the news regarding sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) committed by MONUC personnel in 2004 received spotlight from international media, the positive images of peacekeepers were tainted. Peacekeepers are sent to protect the civilians from the dangers that could occur. Instead, they are the danger. In order to restore the image of the whole peacekeeping operations, the UN decided to send more female peacekeepers into the missions. Along with resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security, the UN’s plan in sending more women is not only to reduce the inequality between male and female peacekeepers, but also in hope that the inherently feminine side of women can make male peacekeepers to behave better in order to decrease the number of SEA allegations. MONUSCO is a peacekeeping mission which contributed the majority of reported SEA cases. Therefore, this thesis aims to analyze whether there is a correlation between the number of female peacekeepers with the decrease of SEA cases in MONUSCO. The author uses qualitative method to conduct this research, supported by the primary and secondary data from the related sources. This thesis uses the concept feminist peace theory and militarized masculinities to analyze the correlation between the two. Thus, this paper concludes that to actually decrease or even eliminate SEA cases in MONUSCO, it takes more than just relying on the numeric representation of female peacekeepers.