Conferences

On December 21, 2007 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution with the long title: “United Nations Comprehensive Strategy on Assistance and Support to Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by United Nations Staff and Related Personnel”. Some of these victims are victims in a very peculiar way; their victim status is a result of them being born as a result of relationships or sexual exploitation by personnel that the United Nations brought into the country. The resolution calls for a detailed report to be made on this issue for the 64th General Assembly, in 2009. The report will then be the basis for the follow up by UN on this issue. Children born by different actors of war – and peace – bring forward questions of both political and academic interest: Are children born of rape or relationships really victims? Are children of mixed origin subject to stigmatization due to their origin? What are the factors minimizing the risk of stigmatizations? Could the UN strategy be used as a blueprint for other children born of war and their rights? Is the United Nations having success in pursuing claims of paternity as is planned in the strategy? How can such a sensitive issue be addressed by researchers and victim support facilitators? These and other issues will be addressed and discussed in the presentation.