Your article criticises the UK for not contributing to the trust fund in support of victims of sexual exploitation and abuse (‘Glib’: UK criticised for failing to give to fund for survivors of UN sexual abuse, theguardian.com, 13 March).
Since 2015, the UK has been one of the most consistent and generous contributors in helping the UN combat sexual exploitation and abuse. This commitment was reinforced by the UK’s signing of the voluntary compact with the secretary general on the engagement to eliminate sexual exploitation and abuse last year. The UK is also a member of the secretary general’s circle of leadership to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse in UN operations and continues to support key initiatives in peacekeeping and special political missions.
The UK has been a key enabler in the fields of prevention, enforcement and remedial action to address sexual exploitation and abuse, supporting initiatives in a variety of fields: screening of all personnel for prior misconduct; development of a risk management toolkit and of policies related to enforcement including a reporting template for member states; updates to the victim assistance programme; development of a victim assistance tracking database; rollout of an e-learning module on prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse and the new conduct website, www.conduct.unmissions.org.
The British government is also funding a groundbreaking project on communicating with the public on sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping missions. This project has helped set up and expand community-based reporting networks and assisted communities and the media understand the risks associated with sexual exploitation and abuse in local languages.
We are grateful for the continued partnership and support of the UK on this critical issue.
Atul Khare
Under-secretary general for field support, United Nations Secretariat, New York
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