a less last >> i'm trying to get the process because that's one of the things the gao talks about. what is the process?

>> it's kind of a two-tiered process. the first is through its formal reports but secondly the joint commission members engage with the iaea. that's the reason we do the meetings in vienna and meet with iaea. >> you said that there were interpretation, correct me if i'm wrong, interpretation questions. so have there been instances of questionable compliance thus far that will resolve outside of the dispute resolution mechanism. >> these were issues that raise the issue of a dispute. these are issues in which we noticed certain activities that we felt were not in compliance. we engage with iranians and they were fixed. >> so there is, so those, because if there was a dispute on something you would be more formal and have been would know

about it. the way which you describe those issues come is rather informal and no one knows exactly what they are, right? >> i have to go back and check on a couple of the specific ones, whether or not they were formalized or written in some fashion. >> if an access issue arose to the joint commission come with the iaea stoke access within 24 days if the members of the joint commission disagreed on a significant? >> i'm sorry? >> if an axis question, access by the aa to the joint commission, with iaea stoke access within 24 days if any members of the joint commission disagreed on its significant? some might say it's not a significant, worthy of having access. would be iaea stoke access to? >> my understanding is just. my understanding is the iaea can

access areas -- >> even if members are in disagreement? >> yes. >> how will the iaea and/or the procurement working group know that exporters are going through the procurement channel? are the consequences, penalties for exorters failing to go through the procurement channel? >> if the material is that they are seeking to sell it is on the excluded lists, the answer is yes. but my understanding is that anybody that wants to engage with iran on issues that are controlled has to go through the procurement working group. >> i raise this question because this is a new onset of the gao study and i would invite you as you go back to the state department to review your answers to me. and if any of them need to be modified.

because i'm just interested in the facts, if they need to be modified for the record. i'm sure that chairman will reconsider it. >> i would ask you to reconsider answer. there is a joint commission vote for to occur. the iaea can be denied access. i know you're someone who do this. i know you're not involved in the negotiation. i don't think you answered that question a properly. and not intentionally but my sense is you will need to correct that. >> none of those are gotcha questions. its new questions raised by the gao study that i and others passed to the commission and i just want to get a definite answer so the we understand, i understand it as the chairman does we need to understand what the state department of you on it. >> okay. >> i appreciate the. i will take that and get back to you. >> i think that was one of the concerns was the period leading

up to the 24 days, then the 24 days and then the vote of the commission. i do think you might want to restate your answer. >> okay. >> i just would like to say, i no senator shaheen asked questions about the election, which i appreciated, you know, the fact is i think people are still observing while some quote more moderate folks who are elected, whether iran is putting oon a moderate image for carryig out the same policies or whether the policies of someone are actually going to change. a number of people who are being executed, human rights violations, the things are doing in the region, that destabilizing to of been on the ascendancy since, quote, these elections have taken place. secondarily i would just say,, look, there are people on the dais and on this committee that voted in different ways relative to the agreement, and that is understandable. i don't think a single person

today said that they wanted to lighten up in pursuit of iran adherinentered into this agreem. i don't think there's a push. i've made of understood by the think that's the case. no one is advocating putting place policy that violated public to make sure that it is a tier two. i just would say that i get the sense secretary kerry has gotten to know foreign minister zarif well. they developed a relationship, maybe so with rouhani. i get the sense there's a desire by the secretary to accommodate, to bend, to make this work more than the agreement states that showed for iran. my sense is that our other parts of the administration that are countering that. i think the president is someplace in between but i just want us i don't think you've

heard today from this committee, and i'm glad we had this hearing, any desire to provide flexibility that doesn't exist. as a matter fact what i think you're today was making sure that we push back in the appropriate ways, because there's a sense that over time the will to adhere to this could erode. i hope you'll take that back to the state department. we thank you for your testimony. there will be questions asked in writing, if you would, the record will remain open until the close of business thursday pic if you would respond a properly, would appreciated. i know this is a hearing on some technical issues today, some of which are familiar with, some of which you are not. we thank you for coming and we appreciate the role you're playing at the state department. >> thank you very much. i appreciated this opportunity. >> with that this meeting is adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> necks, hearing on pending sexual abuse by human peacekeepers. -- u.n. peacekeepers. live senate coverage at 9:30 a.m. eastern. >> republican presidential candidate donald trump, center

ted cruz and governor john kasich speak at a new york gop fund-raising dinner this evening. live coverage at 7:45 p.m. eastern here on c-span2. ♪ mada madame secretary, we proy give 72 of our delicate of votes to the next president of the united states. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> a senate panel was critical

of united nations secretary-general for failing to stop sexual abuse by u.n. peacekeepers. we will hear from the u.n. and state department officials at the senate foreign affairs >> t commihearing. >> the committee will come to order. i want to thank both of ourhank bo panels for being here and for your service.s as we as a courtesy and a guess as protocol the way these hearings go is we haveri a governmentsses witness is typically first and then we have other outside setnesses second.y way to tho today not to show any disrespecg in any way to those panelists who are going first, the second -- i wish the second i was going for so you could hear the testimony especially because oft its nature.

my staff generally prepares comments for me to make on the front and i generally with a couple of alterations stick to them. today i'm going to very brief and say, look him we understand the importance of the u.n. peacekeeping missions. we thank you for being here to tell us a little bit about some the progress that may be the made. but i think all of us understand the terrible, horrible things that u.n. peacekeepers are doing to the people they're supposed to be protecting. the sexual abuse, but they are written in to the populations that are in this hopeless situation is beyond belief. i think all of us on both sides of the aisle get very frustrated with the process of focus that takes place at the u.n., but the lack of results that occur.

and again understand you guys are working hard. you are working within an environment that i find less than satisfying on every level whether it's at the security council and keeping the greatest impact or whether it's this kind of thing. let me just make a statement. based on what i know and made i don't know everything they showed, if i knew right now that a u.n. peacekeeping mission was going to go into north chattanooga today which is where my wife is, i would be on the first plane out of here to go home and protector from the u.n. peacekeepers, especially if they came from certain countries. i'm just telling you here. so here i am as chairman of the foreign relations committee, and if i knew that the u.n. was simply peacekeepers into my neighborhood, i would leave your immediately. i would drop what i was doing,

catch the next flight home and i would go home and try to protect my family from the abuse that they put forth on the very people that they try to protect the and you think about that's a north chattanooga. chattanooga. you think but in some of these isolated places where people are held up in cans, where young girls are subjected, young boys are subjected to sexual violence by people that we are paying, the united states of america is paying. we are the largest configure and this is taking place. i know you were here today to share with us some the progress that has been made. this is not you doing this. i got a. this is not directed at you but i can just tell you i am disgusted, disgusted by the reports, by the actions of u.s. peacekeepers at u.s. taxpayers are paying for. and i hope that somehow at the sink another hearings and other actions that somehow we will figure out a way to real this

them. again, if i knew it was happening, if i knew they're going to chattanooga, i would leave your immediately to protect my family. so with that being said i look forward to this hearing. i want to thank our ranking member for his desire and cooperation in having this. i thank you for your service to our question i hope out of that service we as a nation will figure out some way of ensuring that the very people that are sent to protect people are not doing the dastardly, terrible things are going to populations that are very horrible. i again thank you and we'll turn it over to our ranking member. >> thank you, thank you for your passion on this issue. it's not the first time we have dealt with for problems such as this. this committee has taken i think the right position on trafficking of persons.

the united states leadership has been instrument in changing attitudes in so many places in the world where young people were traffic and for sex or for labor abuses, and this committee came in very strong and oversight to make sure the integrity of what we did in evaluating countries progress on trafficking is not compromised by politics. when you look at the united nations, we will not tolerate united nations under the auspices of the united nations perpetrating these types of violence against young people. against anyone. so i agree with you completely. i first want to underscore the importance of a u.n. peacekeeping missions. 120,000 military and police personnel, overwhelming number performing their professional responsibilities in the appropriate way, with commitment and honor, protecting vulnerable

citizens from the south sudan to the golan heights, 16 missions around the world, four continents. ambassador power pointed out that the united states not only has the correct security interest in u.n. peacekeeping missions, and we contribute as the chairman pointed out to these measures that are represented in any other country in the world, but it's value to the united states. i think ambassador power pointed out is like an eight to one savings deal is taxpayers to use the international united nations peacekeepers rather than the united states having to fill that function. so there certainly is a very important benefit to join peacekeeping missions, and the overwhelming majority of those who are doing the work are doing it properly. what the sexual abuse by u.n. peacekeepers must end. must end. those poor perpetrators need to be held accountable.

there can be no exception to that. zero-tolerance. and i must tell you, thank you, you are right to be outraged because we are talking about young children who are very vulnerable, who are poor, who have been subject to the most difficult lifestyles, being enticed by food or money to do horrible things under the united nations. that cannot continue. so there has to be accountability. the thing that gets chairman corker and they so concerned is the reports that at least initially within the united nations the response was fragmented and bureaucratic. that it was not treated with the seriousness that it should be treated. that's hard for us to understand. the entity that is supposed to bring world peace and stability condoning through their

interactions those types of activities. so united nations passed u.n. security council resolution last march. i have read it. it looks like an appropriate response. will it be enforced? will we be prepared, in fact, to repatriate all of the uniformed personnel from countries that are not doing what they need to do in training their personal before their in theater to deal with sexual abuse issues, holding those who violate accountable, including prison time? if not, they should not be part of the u.n. peacekeeping mission. are we prepared to intimate that? i said it because, mr. chairman, there are shortages of personnel. there are more countries now

contributing that may not have the same access to training. so will the united nations compromise the safety of young people in order to meet the numbers in the peacekeeping mission? if they do, the chairman and i will do everything we can to make sure they don't have the resources to do that. we are not going to support that type of activity. so there will be zero-tolerance, and they really do look forward to discussion we're going down with our two panels today. and i do know that the people that are in front of us are working everyday to make sure that the united states leadership makes it clear that we will not allow, tolerate that type of conduct, and we will demand particularly on the u.n. banner that there be total accountability and no tolerance for this type of activity. >> thank you, senator cardin.

i very much appreciate your service here today. our first witness is isobel coleman, u.s. representative united states for human management and reform. our second what this debate is the honorable tracey ann jacobson, principal deputy assistant secretary of state, pure of international organization affairs. our third way this is major general michael rothstein, deputy assistant secretary for state for plans, programs, and operations, state department bureau of the political military affairs. again we thank you all for your service to our country. i think all of you know without objection your written testimony will be entered into the record. if you could summarize in about five minutes. and i would say that i know you all are very busy, to the extent you can do the testing of the second panel it might be beneficial to you but we thank you for your snow. if you could start in the order

i introduce you i would appreciate it. again thank you for taking the time to be with us today. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member cardin, and other distinguished those of the panel for inviting me to testify today on this urgent and shameful issue of sexual abuse and exploitation by u.n. peacekeepers. earlier this month by the opportunity to travel with ambassador power to the central african republic to witness the peaceful transfer of power to the newly elected president of that country. anyways the trip underscored both the best and the very worst of u.n. peacekeeping. the presence of u.n. peacekeepers has been critical to stanching the ethnic silos in that country, violence that has led to the death of thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. but as we all know, some

minustah troops have also been implicated in allegations of horrific sexual abuse. preying on the very people that they% to protect. during my time, we had the opportunity to travel and meet with the families of victims, and their descriptions of the violence that their loved ones have suffered at the hands of u.n. peacekeepers were really powerful personal accounts that for me cut through the hand wringing, frankly, the excuses for why this scourge has been allowed to persist are just too long. sexual exploitation and abuse by u.n. peacekeepers is not a new problem to date has played commissions from bosnia to haiti to the democratic republic of congo to the central african

republic. let me read you a short passage from interviewing report documenting sexual abuse among peacekeepers. some girls come on quoting, some girls talked of rape disguised as prostitution in which they said they were raped and given money or food afterwards to give the rate the appearance of a consensual transaction. these words, i'm sorry to say, come from the report in 2005. we know from the scope of current allegations now more than a decade later these very same offenses are still occurring, despite years of human leaders insisting on quote zero tolerance of culture of impunity has been allowed to fester. with ambassador power asked me last year to lead our missions efforts to establish a new paradigm for really tackling this scourge, it was clear that

an unaccessible lack of transparency and accountability were at the heart of the issue. yes, the u.n. published an annual report, tallying the numbers and types of sexual abuses by mission, by peacekeepers, but under pressure from the troop contributing countries themselves, it withheld the nationality of the alleged perpetrators and that made it difficult for member states to take collective action by tracking the status of investigations at the outcome of disciplinary action to hold perpetrators to account. had been short without transparency, real accountability was at best, at best inconsistent. and this final is changing. senator, i share your outrage on this. to look back over so many years of words, rhetoric that is not

result in true accountability is simply unacceptable. last year u.s.-u.n. led negotiations in the general assembly for what i view as a breakthrough finally on transparency. we gain consensus among member states to support the secretary-general in his intent to name countries in his annual report. those countries -- and long overdue step. and as of early march issue the u.n. is now reporting on its website in real-time, it is posting credible allegations, along with the nationality of the alleged perpetrators. and with this information we are pursuing a comprehensive approach to track individual cases and follow up with the appropriate authorities. in march, u.s.-u.n. brought the issue of sexual abuse agenda through the sturdy council with

resolution 2272. another significant step forward for accountability. the resolution endorses the secretary-general's decision to repatriate peacekeeping units that have demonstrated a pattern of abuse which is a clear indication of insufficient command and control. the secretary-general is empowered to repatriate all the troops from a mission, from particular group of police contributing country if it is not taking appropriate steps to investigate allegations against its personnel or has not held them accountable. our goal is to see resolution 2272 into militant -- implement it fully, by painting when several the culture of impurity that has persisted for too long. the other part of this strategy is to increase the overall supply of peacekeepers such that when military units or contenders are repatriated, there are others that are well

trained and vetted able to deploy quickly to take the place. the u.n. has come a long way in responding to this scourge of sexual abuse. with strong support from the united states. it is built up its investigative capabilities can increased training and betting after the implement greater can get coverage to increase awareness about sexual abuse come institute penalties for offenders and is improving victims assistance. but clearly given the shocking scale and gravity of the sexual abuse incidents being reported from the central african republic and other missions, these actions by themselves are not sufficient to address the crisis. the u.n. recent commitment to greater transparency and accountability must, absolutely must result in a long overdue sea change that ends in 20. our work is not done it we continue to make it our highest people in new york and bilaterally 'tis see

perpetrators held to account and sorted lacking integrity restored to peacekeeping. thank you. >> mr. chairman, members of the committee i'm honored to be here with you today to talk about this horrific issue that demands urgent meaningful and sustained effort. sector explication abuse by u.n. peacekeepers is a cancer that demands those coverage of treatment possible and are well just buy collective outrage is only useful if it is paired with action. i begin by noting the united states has long comprehensive treatment. deg oc been the w avenues for member

state engagement. some of these steps include new reporting systems for the community, their creation of a media response team, withholding of payments to troops and police for theire missions staff that have been sent home under allegations of misconduct. and the creation on all sexual as flotation and abuse, i will also note that in february the secretary-general to the unprecedented step of sending home an entire contingent from the democratic republic of congo who had been working in central african republic based on credible allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse. this was the first time that the secretary-general had taken such a step, it sets an important

precedent and we believe it sends an important signal to other troop and police contributing countries. and we particularly welcome the secretary-general's action to identify the nationality of military and police personnel accused of sexual abuse. including this information online and in real time. troop and police contributing countries are responsible for the discipline of their personnel. public identification states tolows member track performance, to recognize serious patterns of abuse, and to use diplomatic weight to urge the u.n. to repatriate units that have a systemic pattern of misconduct, and to ban countries from these keeping where appropriate. this new level of information is also allowed us to direct our bilateral engagement where it is

most needed. last month, we launched an effort to reach out to every , to ay on the u.n. list comment three goals. first book on bush they were aware of the report, and the allegations concerning the troops. second, to demand second, to esd second, to demand credible action in terms of investigation and only those responsible to account including through prosecution. when appropriate, where crimes have been committed. thirdly, to identify those areas where the united states might provide capacity building assistance of these countries better investigate and prosecute crimes involving sexual explication entities. i would also note that the secretary-general's report included allegations of sexual explication and abuse against civilian personnel of the u.n. in different agencies, and based on that we are following up directly with those agencies to make sure they take all necessary action.

mr. chairman come in a sense of sexual explication entities does a very real damage to the credibility of the institution of peacekeeping. a tool that has never been more important for global peace and security, and one of which the united states relies to stabilize conflict situations that could otherwise fire out of control. the president hosted the leader some of peacekeeping asia a new presidential memorandum reaffirming our strong support for you in peace operations and directing new efforts to strengthen and modernize these operations. these efforts are well-timed to bolster our actions on such a location entities. for example, new commitments in the president a summit last year included 40,000 troops and police. this was to send a message to troops and police contributing countries at peace operations are no longer a sellers market. this increased capability should about the u.n. to prioritize better performing troops in its

deployment and also given the flexibility to replace the units potentially withdrawn for misconduct. mr. chairman, my colleagues with me today are well-placed to speaspeak specifically to tissuf the reforms we pursued at the u.n. and the trend that we provide and the capacitive we provide to peacekeeping troops in the field. i will conclude by saying by the very mandate the vast majority of u.n. peacekeepers are serving under a mandate to protect civilians who are under threat of physical violence. exploiting or abusing the same vulnerable people is appalling and unconscionable breach of trust. we greatly appreciate the attention this committee is bringing to the issue, and share your outrage as what's been allowed to occur. thank you. >> general. >> good afternoon, mr. chairman, ranking member cardin, members

of the committee. thank you for letting me speak today. and i am very deeply troubled for what brings us here today at the things that you discuss about these instance. among my duties at the state department am responsible for providing executive leadership for the global peace operations initiative and i will take a moment to get over the background on that and then i will discuss the intersection of preventing sexual exploitation and abuse. gpoi is our flagship security program.e for the most part, it is a training mission, although we also focus on building self-sufficiency and important to know, one of our key program objectives is to promote the role of women and to promote better gender integration into their operations. athave been very successful

helping other countries step up to their responsibilities for security. it also allows us to focus our military and other priorities besides peacekeeping. to date, the program has facilitated the deployment of more than 200,000 personnel to 29 operations around the world. and today, partners, although they only comprise 40% of the intruding countries, well above the way class by providing more than 70% of the troops performing of mission street through our diplomatic engagement of as my colleague mentioned earlier, we are working to expand the base on the number of countries the number of troops available for the u.n. to support these missions. and i would at a what my colleague said, we think this will help by having more troops out there raise the standard only for mission performance, but also for conduct and discipline. now let me be clear for the record.

think are thetiment oev i think i share the sentiment of everyone in here that each and every instance of sexual exploitation and abuse by any peacekeeper is actually unacceptable. not only for the harm it causes directly, but it also fundamentally undermines the mission and the legitimacy of what is trying to occur. now, gpoi for delivery structure to try to proactively address sexual exploitation and abuse. in program execution we direct all the appropriate individual unit training has elements of academics, things that go against sexual explication abuse built into their training. we start in the classroom. we move onto scenario-based training and then we move on in our exercise related training at both an individual unit and leader level. we pay particular attention to training leaders because we are keen to a where other important role that leadership plays and

how significant positive backs of effective leadership can have downrange once they are in mission. gpoi also works to promote the role of women and to promote gender degradation. we specifically seek out women as strange because we understand the positive impact that can have. over the past five years, the 50 active countries that are gpoi partners have nearly doubled the number of women. and to give youf contrast, 71 countries that are not partners and do not participate, they have had a the onesof 60% of being deployed. i'm very comfortable that gpoi is having a positive impact in this area. while we are proud of the effort to address the issue, and i do believe we are shipping the outcome positively, no amount of training, no integration is a panacea.

we know there are far too many serious incidents that still occur. and like colleagues, i'm hopeful that recent policy changes to promote transparency will help. they have to continue to follow through. partner fails to follow up, failing to take responsibility in the jurisprudence system, we have to be ready to suspend security assistance. we have to take a deliberate decision and how we do that. in the end, well-trained and well disciplined and well-equipped units, they are the very building blocks to effective peacekeeping. and while there are many success stories out there, we are well aware of the track record is not perfect by any means. whether it is indirectly or directly, through ongoing training, through expanding the role of women, we remain committed to improvement overseas with the u.n. and our

partner countries. scourges of the of abuse. thank you for your time. senator corker: we thank you for the testimony. look, my guess is that you all as upset as we are. you work in an organization, state, it is at certainly at the u.n. making something happen. my sense is that you do welcome hearing to highlight the problems that exist. my understanding is that the level of violence, sexual abuse, the kinds of things are happening to horrible people that we are supposed to be protecting, is actually much higher than reported because the very people that are out there, quote quote quote protecting populations are also

protecting in many cases the human rights workers who may, in fact, be reporting this. so with that assumption, ms. coleman, ambassador coleman, the appropriate that, in fact, reporting levels are far lower than they otherwise would be because people out in the field, these peace keeping folks are there to protect them, too. and there are concerns about winter in the field making reports? >> thank you, senator for that question. i think you are absolutely correct to make the assumption that levels of reporting are below what they actually are. i think it's for a variety of reasons. i think that what we are seeing in the central african republic with a lot of the allegations coming to light now come in particular parts of the country, are because the security situation is improving and we

are now able to send more people out to some of these remote areas where you have had a single country contingent, which in and of itself is a risk factor which of the u.n. is now recognizing, that in remote areas we should have a single country contingent. i think you are seeing an improvement in security which is allowing people from the community to feel more safe and comfortable to come forward and report abuses. what i can tell you, mr. chairman, i think in the coming months we will see more allegations coming to light. i don't think we've nearly seen the end of this problem. as the u.n. shines a spotlight on this issue, we will see more allegations, not fewer. >> which countries are the ones that are the worst? name them. >> you know, i wish i could say that this was just a couple of countries but what we're seeing is that it runs the full gamut

of countries, from countries with seemingly very well trained and equipped, disciplined troops. the french forces, two countries, baroody, ambon, the tanzanians and the drc, the drc troops themselves, the morocca moroccans, the are many, many countries that have these allegations. so i can't point a finger at one being particularly bad. we do know that in the central african republic the contingent that had been repatriated where the troops from the republic of congo and the democratic republic of congo and they were repatriated does -- >> i got it. i need, i apologize, i've got to get things in with a certain amount of time that i have a whole list of countries hear that, it's beyond belief that some of them, germany, germany,

other countries. but the ascii this. do you all, i ca could ask a personal question. have you all had kids? which you can't be a few new a u.n. security, u.n. peacekeeping mission was going to your neighborhood right now, we do not have the same response i had, that you would rush home to protect your family from the peacekeepers? would that be your response? honestly, would you please tell me speak with mr. chairman, i have five kids, and when i was preparing for this testimony today, last night, and i had to talk with my daughters about what i was doing and what are we talking about, it was a very difficult conversation. what i can also do is just having recent return from the central african republic, i am so thankful that my children are

being raised in the united states and in an environment where rule of law is primary, and in the central african republic, i met people who are the victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. their families have suffered it directly. i asked that question, would you prefer that there were no peacekeepers here? and actually, i didn't know what it would be. ambassador power and i sat together with them. would you prefer, given what you have experienced, that peacekeepers return home? and today, all of them, said no. what we want is we want accountability. we want justice to be served. >> let me ask you this. what is wrong with the secretary-general of the u.n.? this report was written, the one you refer to, is 10 years old. what is wrong with him? what is wrong with him? on income is he just so inapt,

inapt that he can't call a body like this to keep us from happening over and over and over again? we are just a beginning to put processes in place. what is wrong with him? >> what i would say, mr. chairman, is that those processes have been put in place, coming out of the report a decade ago but have never been acted upon spent that is the point. how do we put up with such inept leadership at the united nations? how do we do that? >> i don't think it is ineptitude. i think it is our reluctance to take on the opposition of troop contributing countries that don't want to deal with this issue in a transparent way that it must be dealt with spin we have a law. called the lacey act which says when we know of things like this we withhold money.

have we withhold money? >> so mr. chairman, i cannot give you an example where we have withheld money for these things. the good news is that up until recently we didn't have the kind of visibility that we needed to be able to pursue these things. now certainly with the leahy law with credible evidence of individual units, then we go forth not to do security assistance with him anymore. and that is out there and all the units we train already, we've had through the process to any of the training we've done has been vetted through that process. what's good about what is happening now and should have been happening soon i think we would all agree, is that now we are starting to get more information coming in from the u.n. that we didn't have access to before. that's going to allow us to do this better than we have done it

before. >> we may go to a second round with y'all, but i look at the list of countries that are violators. most of them, many of them, let me put it this way, our countries that receive aid from the united states and other forms. i don't understand why we continue to send money to countries outside of the u.n. that allow this type of abuse to take place. so i don't think we are using the leverage that we have. week, i think, should be withholding payments to the u.n. until the stands, or doing some level of reductions. but it doesn't seem to me, it seems to me that this is not that important to the u.n. or they would've done much more about it over the last 10 years.

by the way, those people you talked to, i would say, were somewhat fearful to tell you they didn't want him to be there with u.n. officials being in your presence. but i just don't think the united states is using the levers that we have, not at your level, at other levels, to stop this. i think the u.n. is i think in great jeopardy of building enough critical mass around here where severe penalties should be taken against them with holding of funds from them because of their inapt miss, the lack of concern, their lack of care, after 10 years to continue to allow this to occur. i hope actions and then to be a part of actions being taken against them, because it's obviously something that's not very important to them.

otherwise this could have been stopped a long time ago. ineptness, lack of a moral compass, lack of concern for vulnerable people. senator cardin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to first thank you all, and i mean that. this is not easy work and we appreciate your commitment and passion to get this right on behalf of former people globally. so thank you for your commitment. i do acknowledge the fact that we now have more information we had a year or two ago. my staff has given a copy of what's on the u.n. webpage on those who have been, allocations of sexual abuse -- allegations. it looks like proximally since the beginning of 2015, rounding, could be 90 but somewhere in that range, specific episodes involving about the same number

of victims. of all those cases, only four have been finalized with any jail time. i also point out, the chairman said, that these are the reported cases. we know that in some countries the seriousness of this issue, even though it is globally acknowledged as being the worst types of conduct, but in some governments, some countries, it's not considered to be a serious issue. and that means that the reporting is going to be spotty in some of the missions, and then the pressure that is on the command structure has always been there. we saw that in the use command structure when we were dealing with trafficking at military facilities located in other

countries, not participated and it took some of the four were able to change the culture. we know that also is a problem. but my specific question to you is, it's one thing to get the secretary-general to withdraw the mission if they don't do certain things. i'm all for that. the two sections that i see in u.n. security council resolution 2272 which was just passed last month, so the chairman is right, this has been going on for a long, long time and we finally got a u.n. security counsel resolution passed last month. section four deals with gathering evidence that most of that section deals with how you deal, victims, making sure the mission is well-trained, et cetera. and in section 9 cents urges all member states to take concrete steps aimed at preventing combating impunity for sexual exploitation. what are we doing what is the united states drink with whatever leadership doing to

make sure that those who have perpetrated these horrible acts are going to end up in jail? >> thank you for your question. it's a very important topic and i think you've hit on something that is key. we've talked about what the u.n. or isn't doing, but the crux of the matter is what our troops and police contributing countries doing to hold those who have perpetrated these already described accountable. based on the new reporting that we have the nationalities we finally have a tool that allows us to go to those countries to see what they are doing, to urge them to do better. and i think you have mentioned the four cases from last year that have gone through the whole process. to or at least another 20 where trials are occurring now, 20 trials in the democratic republic of congo that cover is

conducting against peacekeepers have been accused of this. also the republic of south africa has been on site court-martial that is going on right now. so we are starting to see the actions taken that these countries know now that we know what they are doing. we know where the troops are coming from at the we're going to continue to shine a spotlight on these issues. we have sent in our missions to all of these countries just last month. this was a subject of high level discussion with our ambassadors who are all back in washington last month for the chief of mission conference and we've been very clear what country would go back to that this is not just one sort of discussion, buthat we are going to be coming back regularly to determine what they're doing and holding their feet to the fire. >> does that underscore the point the chairman made, i support you in peacekeeping. a lot of taxpayer money goes into u.n. peacekeeping.

u.s. tax air money goes into. i have a right as the sender to know section nine of u.n. security council resolution is being enforced. i don't believe that the countries that have people who are perpetrated this, some of the countries will follow through. with this requirement of combating impunity and making sure that the perpetrators are held accountable and are serving as in time. so what are you going to do to provide me with information on how we are doing in every one of these countries that have perpetrators as to have their system of justice is handling this, acceptable to international standards? >> senator, it's very important that we continue to follow up with each of these countries in

a repeatedly. we are doing that and we're happy to provide you at any time with the results of our conversations with -- >> i want to be a little more proactive. i want to know what you plan to do working with the members of congress to keep us informed in a timely way as to how every country that stands peacekeepers to countries, the systems they have employed. i want to make sure that no one is being left -- first of i don't think we have enough. i don't think, think that the more proactive, the united states come in making sure those who are victimized have an opportunity to come forward. i think that to be more direct with the political structure in the united nations to make sure every country, perpetrators are identified, so that we have by country what is happening and that we follow every particular case.

because quite frankly i don't have confidence in their system to provide justice, international justice, not u.s. of justice. and i think the more transparency you can put into this the more important it is. i want you to come back to me, this committee come and tell me what we're going to be receiving on a regular basis as to what's happening in every one of these countries and holding the perpetrators accountable and how those trials are going forward and whether, in fact, you can say with confidence that they have taken steps to prevent impunity for those who have committed these crimes. will you do that? >> ya senator. thank you. in fact, we've already started an exercise to do just this. but holding the people behind that are engaged in this on every day. we're putting together essentially what we want to do is combine the new transparency that we're getting from the u.n. with our own information that we get from our embassies in the

field. we are preparing what we call data call but it's an effort to go out to all of our ambassadors in every country that hosts the peacekeeping mission, to add to its is a question based on our own observations, our own engagement, our own analysis so that we can bring that information back to washington and do exactly what you say, to make a determination about whether the countries are doing the right thing or not. >> senator corker and i can we need to talk more about this but that leahy ruled which is why i support indicates that we don't give aid to countries that don't adhere to basic international standards. and to me holding those accountable for these atrocities, these activities would be contrary to international norm. so you have to help us address the appropriate type of oversight that will make sure that countries understand that they must act to prevent

impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes. understood speak with you as a senator spent otherwise we will drafted and you may not like the way we will draft a. i'm just warning you. >> understood, and we are working, for example, the current years appropriations language which does require the kind of certification that you're describing and we are looking for to working with you to put that information together. >> thank you. >> senator isakson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate both you and the ranking are focusing on this. i appreciate your comments to the u.n. about transparency and finally making some moves. putting in a u.n. report, how many violations of human rights there were in terms of rape against women, is not much transparency. and putti it on the website is pretty good but a lot of these people who are victims would

know a website if they saw it because they are in remote parts of the world. i want to act out what has our defensive. i completely come from where they're coming from in fron terf us in the united states holding people accountable in some way if not at least by withholding funds are withholding funds until they comply with human rights. but here's the question. senator corker and i went to darfur and senator coons and i went to the congo. one of the many things i learned is rate is a military tactic in africa. it's not a violation of the law. they teach it. when we went to darfur you didn't see a man younger, i mean older than 12 or younger than 72 because they fled. everyone had a baby. i'm talking when you're 45, 50, 60 years old, or at least endured so much been it looked like they were that old. the armies.com in, it's an

ongoing process. this is a big practice on not just take it on africa but it's one place i know where it takes please. unless the with significant consequence of united states funds, despite address your organization, general, you're working on, we are just whistling in the wind because these people are talking. i just want to make come to wasn't a question, that was kind of a statement of where's which brings me to the question. general, is there any status of forces agreement you know that is required or otherwise put on the verge of any country that supports peacekeeping troops to those countries? any status for the legal attentively to which the peacekeeping troops will b be in the they commit a felony or a crime? >> thanks for the question. i may have to defer a little bit. i know that as a memorandum between that country and the troop contributing, this country to go to a certain mission and the country they are working in. but i do not know the details of

that to be able to unwrap that further. i don't know if i can turn it over to you, ambassador. >> it is a memorandum of understanding and there's a model memorandum of understanding that's negotiated every three years. that negotiation is coming up in 2017 and strengthening the provisions to be very explicit and incredibly direct on sexual exportation and abuses is one of my goals for the upcoming negotiation. .. that are negotiated between the true-putting country and the u.n.. what i can tell you center is that this is not a problem at its core of lack of words on paper. this is a problem of political will. and it is a problem that has persisted for too long, where words on paper have been ignored. words on paper have been disregarded. so even within the existing