Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T13:49:44.148Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Peacekeeping, Compliance with International Norms, and Transactional Sex in Monrovia, Liberia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2016

Bernd Beber ,
Michael J. Gilligan ,
Jenny Guardado  and
Sabrina Karim
Get access

Abstract

United Nations policy forbids its peacekeepers and other personnel from engaging in transactional sex (the exchange of money, favors, or gifts for sex), but we find the behavior to be very common in our survey of Liberian women. Using satellite imagery and GPS locators, we randomly selected 1,381 households and randomly sampled 475 women between the ages of eighteen and thirty. Using an iPod in private to preserve the anonymity of their responses, these women answered sensitive questions about their sexual histories. More than half of them had engaged in transactional sex, a large majority of them (more than 75 percent) with UN personnel. We estimate that each additional battalion of UN peacekeepers caused a significant increase in a woman's probability of engaging in her first transactional sex. Our findings raise the concern that the private actions of UN personnel in the field may set back the UN's broader gender-equality and economic development goals, and raise broader questions about compliance with international norms.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , Winter 2017 , pp. 1 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aning, Kwesi, and Aubyn, Festus K.. 2013. Ghana. In Providing Peacekeepers: The Politics, Challenges, and Future of United Nations Peacekeeping Contributions, edited by Bellamy, Alex J. and Williams, Paul D., 269–90. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atwood, Katherine A., Kennedy, Stephen B., Barbu, Ernlee M., Nagbe, Wede, Seekey, Wede, Sirleaf, Prince, Perry, Oretha, Martin, Roland B., and Sosu, Fred. 2011. Transactional Sex among Youths in Post-conflict Liberia. Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition 29 (2):113–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baird, Sarah, McIntosh, Craig, and Özler, Berk. 2011. Cash or Condition? Evidence from a Cash Transfer Experiment. Quarterly Journal of Economics 126 (4):1709–53.Google Scholar
Baker, Anni P. 2004. American Soldiers Overseas: The Global Military Presence. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Bearce, David H., and Bondanella, Stacy. 2007. Intergovernmental Organizations, Socialization, and Member-State Interest Convergence. International Organization 61 (4):703–33.Google Scholar
Beardsley, Kyle. 2011. Peacekeeping and the Contagion of Armed Conflict. Journal of Politics 73 (4):1051–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beardsley, Kyle, and Karim, Sabrina. 2015. Ladies Last: Peacekeeping and Gendered Protection. In Gender, Peace and Security: Implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325, edited by Gizelis, Theodora-Ismene and Olsson, Louise, 62–95. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Beber, Bernd, Roessler, Philip, and Scacco, Alexandra. 2014. Intergroup Violence and Political Attitudes: Evidence from a Dividing Sudan. Journal of Politics 76 (3):649–65.Google Scholar
Bolkovac, Kathryn, and Lynn, Cari. 2011. The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman's Fight for Justice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Carlon, James J. 2008. National SEA Awareness Campaign: Evaluation Report. National Gender Based Violence Taskforce. Available at <http://www.pseataskforce.org/uploads/tools/evaluationnationalseaawarenesscampaign_jamescarlonnationalgbvtaskforceliberia_english.pdf>. Accessed 12 June 2015..+Accessed+12+June+2015.>Google Scholar
Carnahan, Michael, Durch, William, and Gilmore, Scott. 2006. Economic Impact of Peacekeeping: Final Report. New York: Building Markets. Available at <http://buildingmarkets.org/sites/default/files/economic_impact_of_un_peacekeeping_march_2006.pdf >. Accessed 27 April 2015.Google Scholar
Chatterji, Minki, Murray, Nancy, London, David, Anglewicz, Philip. 2005. The Factors Influencing Transactional Sex among Young Men and Women in Twelve Sub-Saharan African Countries. Social Biology 52 (1–2):56–72.Google Scholar
Cohen, Dara Kay. 2013. Explaining Rape During Civil War: Cross-National Evidence (1980–2009). American Political Science Review 107 (3):461–77.Google Scholar
Cohen, Dara Kay, and Green, Amelia Hoover. 2012. Dueling Incentives: Sexual Violence in Liberia and the Politics of Human Rights Advocacy. Journal of Peace Research 49 (3):445–58.Google Scholar
Cohen, Dara Kay, and Nordås, Ragnhild. 2014. Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts: Introducing the SVAC Dataset, 1989–2009. Journal of Peace Research 51 (3):418–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Nanette J., ed. 1993. Prostitution: An International Handbook on Trends, Problems, and Policies. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Deschamps, Marie, Jallow, Hassan B., and Sooka, Yasmin. 2015. Taking Action on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by Peacekeepers: Report of an Independent Review on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by International Peacekeeping Forces in the Central African Republic. Available at <http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/centafricrepub/Independent-Review-Report.pdf>. Accessed 15 January 2016..+Accessed+15+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Downs, George W. 2000. Constructing Effective Environmental Regimes. Annual Review of Political Science 3:25–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyle, Michael W., and Sambanis, Nicholas. 2006. Making War and Building Peace: United Nations Peace Operations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Dunkle, Kristin L, Jewkes, Rachel K., Brown, Heather C., Gray, Glenda E., McIntryre, James A., Harlow, Siobán D.. 2004. Transactional Sex Among Women in Soweto, South Africa: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Association with HIV Infection. Social Science and Medicine 59 (8):1581–92.Google Scholar
Dunkle, Kristin L., Jewkes, Rachel, Nduna, Mzikazi, Jama, Nwabisa, Levin, Jonathan, Sikweyiya, Yandisa, and Koss, Mary P.. 2007. Transactional Sex with Casual and Main Partners Among Young South African Men in the Rural Eastern Cape: Prevalence, Predictors, and Associations with Gender-based Violence. Social Science and Medicine 65 (6):1235–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunkle, Kristin L., Wingood, Gina M., Camp, Christina M., and DiClemente, Ralph J.. 2010. Economically Motivated Relationships and Transactional Sex Among Unmarried African American and White Women: Results from a US National Telephone Survey. Public Health Reports 125 (4):90–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dupas, Pascaline. 2011. Do Teenagers Respond to HIV Risk Information? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3 (1):1–34.Google Scholar
Ellis, Stephen. 2006. The Mask of Anarchy: The Destruction of Liberia and the Religious Dimension of an African Civil War. 2nd ed. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Finnemore, Martha, and Sikkink, Kathryn. 1998. International Norm Dynamics and Political Change. International Organization 52 (4):887–917.Google Scholar
Florini, Ann. 1996. The Evolution of International Norms. International Studies Quarterly 40 (3):363–89.Google Scholar
Fortna, Virginia Page. 2008. Does Peacekeeping Work? Shaping Belligerents' Choices after Civil War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gertler, Paul, Shah, Manisha, and Bertozzi, Stefano M.. 2005. Risky Business: The Market for Unprotected Commercial Sex. Journal of Political Economy 113 (3):518–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilligan, Michael J., and Sergenti, Ernest J.. 2008. Do UN Interventions Cause Peace? Using Matching to Improve Causal Inference. Quarterly Journal of Political Science 3 (2):89–122.Google Scholar
Goodman, Ryan, and Jinks, Derek. 2004. How to Influence States: Socialization and International Human Rights Law. Duke Law Journal 54 (3):621–703.Google Scholar
Graham, Erin R., Shipan, Charles R., and Volden, Craig. 2013. The Diffusion of Policy Diffusion Research in Political Science. British Journal of Political Science 43 (3):673–701.Google Scholar
Greenhill, Brian. 2010. The Company You Keep: International Socialization and the Diffusion of Human Rights Norms. International Studies Quarterly 54 (1):127–45.Google Scholar
Haas, Peter M. 1992. Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination. International Organization 46 (1):1–35.Google Scholar
Howard, Lise Morjé. 2008. UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hultman, Lisa, Kathman, Jacob, and Shannon, Megan. 2014a. United Nations Peacekeeping and Civilian Protection in Civil War. American Journal of Political Science 57 (4):875–91.Google Scholar
Hultman, Lisa, Kathman, Jacob, and Shannon, Megan. 2014b. Beyond Keeping Peace: United Nations Effectiveness in the Midst of Fighting. American Political Science Review 108 (4):737–53.Google Scholar
Hunter, Mark. 2002. The Materiality of Everyday Sex: Thinking Beyond “Prostitution.” African Studies 6 (1):99–120.Google Scholar
Jennings, Kathleen M. 2008. Protecting Whom? Approaches to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in UN Peacekeeping Operations. Fafo-report 2008:36. Oslo, Norway: Fafo Foundation.Google Scholar
Jennings, Kathleen M., and Nikolić-Ristanović, Vesna. 2009. UN Peacekeeping Economies and Local Sex Industries: Connections and Implications. MICROCON Research Working Paper 17. Brighton, UK: University of Sussex, Institute of Development Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanetake, Machiko. 2010. Whose Zero Tolerance Counts? Reassessing a Zero Tolerance Policy Against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers. International Peacekeeping 17 (2):200–14.Google Scholar
Karim, Sabrina, and Beardsley, Kyle. 2013. Female Peacekeepers and Gender Balancing: Token Gestures or Informed Policymaking? International Interactions 39 (4):461–88.Google Scholar
Karim, Sabrina, and Beardsley, Kyle. 2016. Explaining Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Peacekeeping Missions: The Role of Female Peacekeepers and Gender Equality in Contributing Countries. Journal of Peace Research 53 (1):100–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karim, Sabrina, and Beardsley, Kyle. 2017. Equal-Opportunity Peacekeeping. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Karim, Sabrina, and Gorman, Ryan. 2016. Building a More Competent Security Sector: The Case of UNMIL and the Liberian National Police. International Peacekeeping 23 (1):158–91.Google Scholar
Leclerc-Madlala, Suzanne. 2003. Transactional Sex and the Pursuit of Modernity. Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies 29 (2):213–33.Google Scholar
Lee, Jin-kyung. 2010. Service Economies: Militarism, Sex Work, and Migrant Labor in South Korea. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, National AIDS Control Program, and Macro International Inc. 2008. Liberia Demographic and Health Survey 2007. Available from <http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/fr201/fr201.pdf>. Accessed 27 May 2015. Monrovia, Liberia: Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-information Services and Macro International Inc..+Accessed+27+May+2015.+Monrovia,+Liberia:+Liberia+Institute+of+Statistics+and+Geo-information+Services+and+Macro+International+Inc.>Google Scholar
Luke, Nancy, and Kurz, Kathleen. 2002. Cross-generational and Transactional Sexual Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence of Behavior and Implications for Negotiating Safer Sexual Practices. Washington, DC: International Center for Research on Women. Available from <https://www.icrw.org/files/publications/Cross-generational-and-Transactional-Sexual-Relations-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa-Prevalence-of-Behavior-and-Implications-for-Negotiating-Safer-Sexual-Practices.pdf>. Accessed 12 June 2015..+Accessed+12+June+2015.>Google Scholar
Malik, Inam-ur-Rahman. 2013. Pakistan. In Providing Peacekeepers: The Politics, Challenges, and Future of United Nations Peacekeeping Contributions, edited by Bellamy, Alex J. and Williams, Paul D., 204–24. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mishra, Sharmistha, Ramanaik, Satyanarayana, Blanchard, James F., Halli, Shiva, Moses, Stephen, Raghavendra, T., Bhattacharjee, Parinita, Lorway, Rob, and Becker, Marissa. 2012. Characterizing Sexual Histories of Women before Formal Sex-work in South India from a Cross-sectional Survey: Implications for HIV/STI Prevention. BMC Public Health 12 (1):829.Google Scholar
Moon, Katharine H.S. 1997. Sex Among Allies: Military Prostitution in US-Korea Relations. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, Ann M., Biddlecom, Ann E., and Zulu, Eliya M.. 2007. Prevalence and Meanings of Exchange of Money or Gifts for Sex in Unmarried Adolescent Sexual Relationships in Sub-Saharan Africa. African Journal of Reproductive Health 11 (3):44–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nikolić-Ristanović, Vesna. 2003. Sex Trafficking: The Impact of War, Militarism, and Globalization in Eastern Europe. Michigan Feminist Studies 17:1–26.Google Scholar
Nordås, Ragnhild, and Rustad, Siri C.A.. 2013. Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by Peacekeepers: Understanding Variation. International Interactions 39 (4):511–34.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, Donna. 2007. Gender Issues in Post-War Contexts: A Review of Analysis and Experience, and Implications for Policies. Working Paper 9. Bradford, UK: University of Bradford, Department of Peace Studies.Google Scholar
Robinson, Jonathan, and Yeh, Ethan. 2011. Transactional Sex as a Response to Risk in Western Kenya. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3 (1):35–64.Google Scholar
Scacco, Alexandra. 2010. Who Riots? Explaining Individual Participation in Ethnic Violence . PhD diss., Columbia University.Google Scholar
Security Council Report. 2013. Monthly Forecast: March 2013. Available at <http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/2013_03_forecast.pdf>. Accessed 12 June 2015..+Accessed+12+June+2015.>Google Scholar
Simic, Olivera. 2009. Rethinking “Sexual Exploitation” in UN Peacekeeping Operations. Women's Studies International Forum 32 (4):288–95.Google Scholar
Simic, Olivera. 2012. Regulation of Sexual Conduct in UN Peacekeeping Operations. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Sotomayor, Arturo C. 2013. Nepal. In Providing Peacekeepers: The Politics, Challenges, and Future of United Nations Peacekeeping Contributions, edited by Bellamy, Alex J. and Williams, Paul D., 291–311. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tickner, J. Ann. 2001. Gendering World Politics: Issues and Approaches in the Post-Cold War Era. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
UNAIDS. 2013. HIV Estimates with Uncertainty Bounds 1990–2012. Available at <http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/campaigns/globalreport2013/globalreport>. Accessed 27 May 2015..+Accessed+27+May+2015.>Google Scholar
Nations, United. 2005. A Comprehensive Strategy to Eliminate Future Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in United National Peacekeeping Operations. Letter dated 24 March 2005 from the Secretary-General to the President of the General Assembly, A/59/710. Available at <https://cdu.unlb.org/Portals/0/Documents/KeyDoc5.pdf>. Accessed 24 April 2016..+Accessed+24+April+2016.>Google Scholar
United Nations Conduct and Discipline Unit. 2015. Statistics: Allegations for All Categories of Personnel Per Year (Sexual Exploitation and Abuse). Available at <https://cdu.unlb.org/Statistics/AllegationsbyCategoryofPersonnelSexualExploitationandAbuse/AllegationsforAllCategoriesofPersonnelPerYearSexualExploitationandAbuse.aspx>. Accessed 15 June 2015..+Accessed+15+June+2015.>Google Scholar
UN Office of Internal Oversight Services. 2009. Audit of the Conduct and Discipline Unit in UNMIL. Assignment No. AP2008/626/01. Available at <http://usun.state.gov/sites/default/files/organization_pdf/140723.pdf>. Accessed 20 December 2015..+Accessed+20+December+2015.>Google Scholar
UN Office of Internal Oversight Services. 2013. Activities of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on Peacekeeping Operations for the Period from 1 January to 31 December 2012. A/67/297 (Part II). Available at <http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/67/297(PartII)>. Accessed 12 June 2015..+Accessed+12+June+2015.>Google Scholar
UN Office of Internal Oversight Services. 2015a. Evaluation of the Enforcement and Remedial Assistance Efforts for Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by the United Nations and Related Personnel in Peacekeeping Operation. Assignment No. IED-15-001. Available at <https://oios.un.org/page/download2/id/13>. Accessed 15 June 2015..+Accessed+15+June+2015.>Google Scholar
UN Office of Internal Oversight Services. 2015b. Audit of the Conduct and Discipline Function in the United Nations Mission in Liberia. Assignment No. AP2014/626/04. Available at <https://oios.un.org/page/download/id/418>. Accessed 20 December 2015..+Accessed+20+December+2015.>Google Scholar
Wood, Elisabeth Jean. 2014. Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and the Policy Implications of Recent Research. International Review of the Red Cross 96 (894):457–78.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Beber supplementary material

Appendix 1

Download Beber supplementary material(File)
File 9.6 MB
Supplementary material: File

Beber supplementary material

Beber supplementary material 1

Download Beber supplementary material(File)
File 9.1 MB
Supplementary material: File

Beber supplementary material

Beber supplementary material 2

Download Beber supplementary material(File)
File 74.7 KB