WRITTEN QUESTION P-0691/02 by Amalia Sartori (PPE-DE) to the Council. Sex in exchange for humanitarian aid.
Date: 2002-03-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Union, UNO, co-financing, humanitarian aid, non-governmental organisation, sexual violence

C 229 E/122

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

26.9.2002

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(13 May 2002)

The Commission can inform the Honourable Member that, as of 21 March 2002 27 Commission officials
are on secondment in the interests of the service to other Community Institutions (Economic and Social
Committee: 1; Council of Ministers: 5; European Court of Justice: 12; Court of Auditors: 2; European
Parliament: 7).

A further 20 officials are seconded in the interests of the service to other organisations, in particular
Agencies and other European and non-European bodies.

The Commission also has an exchange programme between its officials and staff from Member States’
national and regional administrations,
international organisations etc. 30 Commission officials are at
present seconded in that context.

A detailed list according to the individual institutions and organisations will be transmitted directly to the
Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat.

(2002/C 229 E/139)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0691/02

by Amalia Sartori (PPE-DE) to the Council

(5 March 2002)

Subject: Sex in exchange for humanitarian aid

It
is reported in the international press that staff of non-governmental organisations employed in
distributing and managing humanitarian aid on behalf of the United Nations have been accused of sexual
abuse of refugees. This has emerged from UN inquiries conducted during aid monitoring operations in
crisis areas.

What happens is that food, medicines and other commodities are apparently traded in exchange for sex
with young girls (many of whom are minors). The violence and abuse is further exacerbated by the fact
that no precautions are taken, thus promoting the spread of AIDS, which is already at alarming levels in
the areas concerned.

Situations of this kind appear to have occurred in Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire and East Timor, suggesting that it
may now be an established practice.

In view of the fact that UN humanitarian aid programmes are co-financed by the EU, what measures does
the Council intend to take to investigate these deplorable incidents involving relief workers who, instead of
providing aid to people facing a state of emergency, are humiliating and exploiting the very people they
should be helping?

If these allegations prove to be true, what does the Council intend to do to punish those responsible and
ensure that abuses of this kind do not occur again?

Reply

(26 June 2002)

1.
The Council does not possess any documents formally attesting to the veracity of the reports quoted
by the Honourable Member. However, if the reports turn out to be true, the Council will, to the full extent
of its powers, support any measure aimed at identifying and punishing the persons responsible for the acts
in question as well as any other action to prevent such incidents from happening again.

2.
It may be noted that, under Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/96 of 20 June 1996 concerning
humanitarian aid (1), cooperation between the European Community and the UN’s international humani-

26.9.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 229 E/123

tarian agencies and organisations comes within the sphere of competence of the Commission. It is
therefore the Commission’s responsibility to determine the conditions for financing and implementing the
humanitarian operations carried out by those bodies to monitor their execution and to assess the results.

3.
On a general level, the Council is watching very closely the development of relations between the EU
and the UN in this area. In response to the Commission’s communication of 2 May 2001 to the Council
and the European Parliament entitled ‘Building an effective partnership with the United Nations in the
fields of Development and Humanitarian Affairs’, the Council adopted conclusions on 31 May 2001 in
which it urged the Commission to strengthen and improve its relations with the relevant UN agencies in
this area. Among other things, the Council stressed the importance of enhancing dialogue to build a
strategic partnership between the Community and the UN in order to tackle humanitarian crises.

the EU,

in particular,

tasks. On the initiative of

4.
In addition, the EU is in the forefront of the international efforts to ensure that the personnel charged
with carrying out UN humanitarian measures meet the highest standard required for performing the
the UN General Assembly adopted on
relevant
21 December 2001 a Resolution entitled ‘Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection
of United Nations personnel’ (RES/56/217), which reaffirms, among other things, in paragraph 15, the
principle whereby ‘all humanitarian personnel and United Nations and associated personnel [are obliged]
to observe and respect the national laws of the country in which they are operating, in accordance with
law and the Charter of the United Nations’. The principle is reiterated and developed in
international
paragraph 18, which requests the UN Secretary-General
‘to take the necessary measures to ensure that
United Nations and other personnel carrying out activities in fulfilment of the mandate of a United Nations
operation are properly informed about […] the standards that they are required to meet, including those
law, […] and reaffirms the necessity for all other
contained in relevant domestic and international
humanitarian organisations to provide their personnel with similar support’.

(1) OJ L 163, 2.7.1996, p. 1.

(2002/C 229 E/140)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0696/02

by Eija-Riitta Korhola (PPE-DE) to the Council

(19 March 2002)

Subject: The EU’s objectives in the ILO world commission

The ILO has set up a world commission to consider the relationships between globalisation,
liberalisation of trade and social development. Naturally these issues are also important to the EU.

the

One of the chairs of the world commission is the president of an EU Member State, Tarja Halonen,
President of the Republic of Finland.

The world commission intends to report its findings in March 2003.

What are the EU’s objectives in connection with the world commission’s work?

Are there any plans for debating the objectives and/or the world commission’s conclusions with the
European Parliament?

Reply

(27 June 2002)

The Council reminds the Honourable Member that on 12 November 2001, at the 282nd session of the
Governing Body of the ILO, the representative of the Danish government made a statement on behalf of
the European Union. This statement contained inter alia the objectives of the EU in connection with the
activities of the World Commission, as follows:

The European Union reaffirms the great
importance which it attaches to addressing the social
dimension of globalization. Recent events have underlined the effects which globalization has on