Since most peacekeeping personnel are now men, a "boys will be boys" attitude prevails in these operations that encourages sexual exploitation and rewards those who remain silent about it, Refugees International said in a new report.
That attitude will continue to prevail until it is recognized that sexual exploitation and abuse "are primarily problems of abuse of power that merit disciplinary action and only secondarily problems of sexual behavior," said the report based on interviews in Guinea, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone over the past three years.