NEW YORK: The United Nations (UN) Security Council has adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution tackling sexual abuse by U.N. peacekeepers for the first time.
The resolution was approved Friday by a vote of 14-0 after an Egyptian amendment aimed at weakening the text was defeated. Egypt abstained from the vote.
The U.N. has been in the spotlight for months over allegations of child rape and other sexual abuses by its peacekeepers in some of the world’s most vulnerable and violent regions.
The United States, the biggest financial contributor to U.N. peacekeeping operations, has said it wants the U.N.’s most powerful body to send a strong signal that it will not tolerate the escalating problem.
The U.N. says there were 69 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers in 2015, with 25 allegations this year.
