Gender violence in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (2004-2017)

Abstract

The research presented here has the goal to analyze the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) through a gender perspective. We seek to understand which were the conditions that made possible, during the validity of the mission (2004-2017), the recurrent cases of gender-based violence perpetrated by peacekeepers of the United Nations (UN) presented there. Through feminist lenses, an analysis of the documents and the actions of the UN that guided the mission will be held in order to understand in which manner the organization sought to combat and avoid a gender-based violence in the place. Since the Resolution 1325/2000, the UN has recognized the importance of the female presence in processes of reconstruction of peace and solution of conflicts, consolidating the Women, Peace and Security agenda (WPS). Now the feminist studies of International Relations begun to include in its debates linked guidelines to the international security, discussing the insertion of the gender perspective in highly more markedly male spheres, such as the military forces. We intend, through this research, to contribute for the studies of gender violence during conflicts and peacekeeping operations, as well to give visibility to the cases of sexual violence perpetrated by UN peacekeepers in the field, searching to understand the roots of this issue that affects many other nations that experience the so-called humanitarian presence in its territories. (AU)