A panel headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta was tasked with rethinking peacekeeping at a time when UN missions are increasingly under threat and increasingly asked to manage conflicts.
Ramos-Horta was tapped to carry out the mission last year before recent allegations implicated UN peacekeepers in sexual abuse in Haiti and Liberia, and French troops in Central African Republic.
On Tuesday, he submitted his report to UN Secretary General
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
.
A summary of the report, obtained by AFP, recommends that troops from countries that flout the rights of children in armed conflict be excluded from UN peacekeeping missions.
The United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
publishes annual lists to shame countries with questionable records on children and armed conflict, and on conflict related sexual violence.
The report also recommends that disciplinary action -- or the lack of it -- taken by troop contributing countries be disclosed.
Six-month deadlines should also be imposed on investigations, compared to an average 16 months, and "an effective and adequately resourced victim assistance program" set up.