Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in the context of Peace Support Operations (PSOs) is a serious misconduct often involving uniformed and civilian personnel. Although the exact number of victims is unknown, it is believed to be substantial. One related concern is the abandonment of children fathered by peacekeepers due to SEA during their deployments, which has been documented in numerous host States. The abandonment has far-reaching consequences, leaving the children without paternal recognition and child support. This issue has received limited academic scrutiny. Against this background, this research represents the first comprehensive legal analysis exploring the status of, and legal responsibility for, abandoned peacekeepers’ children.

The thesis employs two approaches: first, it systematises and examines the fragmented information on this group of children, and second, it analyses the relevant legal frameworks applying to their situation. By compiling and organising a significant amount of documented and anecdotal information, this research contributes to the scholarship on children born of SEA, providing valuable insights into the specific peacekeeping missions where these children were born, highlighting evidence of abandonment and exploring the children’s lived experiences. Furthermore, it demonstrates that these children are not an episodic phenomenon and that their conception and abandonment have been happening for decades. The data also permits assessing the effectiveness of UN measures vis-à-vis these children. The second approach involves examining the relevant legal frameworks, identifying applicable legal regimes that may offer solutions for these children, and evaluating the compliance of fathers, host and sending States, and the UN with their responsibilities towards them.

This research seeks to answer whether the UN is conclusively helping abandoned peacekeepers’ children to fulfil their rights to identity and an adequate standard of living and what measures could be adopted according to international law to assist them in fulfilling those rights. The initial findings indicate that the UN has not assisted these children effectively, nor has it facilitated their paternity claims. As the primary and common responsibility for these children’s upbringing and holistic development falls on their parents, this thesis considers the possibility of suing the alleged fathers for paternity recognition and child support. In light of the relevant foreign elements in these claims, this is examined under a conflict of laws. However, the responsibility for these children and their particular circumstances extends beyond private law. Therefore, the research employs a human rights approach to consider the responsibility of host and sending States, showing that they have not complied with their convention obligations. It further demonstrates the UN’s responsibility for failing to apply human rights standards to its processes and not complying with its regulations. The thesis also discusses accessing international and regional human rights mechanisms to find redress. Lastly, some policy recommendations are provided to improve the overall response of the UN to facilitating paternity recognition and child support.

To contextualise and support the doctrinal research, this thesis considers the deployment of PSOs in Haiti as a case study, where there are numerous allegations of UN personnel fathering and abandoning children. The abandonment has prompted some mothers to file paternity and child support claims against the alleged fathers despite facing numerous difficulties. As part of the mixed methods used in this research, a limited number of carefully selected interviews are used as supporting evidence. This thesis uses postmodern feminist legal theory as the theoretical framework to address the descriptive and explanatory questions, which serve as a factual foundation for understanding the normative part of the research. Feminist analysis extends beyond women and encompasses other marginalised groups who exist at the fringes of dominant discourses on gender, such as abandoned peacekeepers’ children. This research also relies on a normative framework rooted in the descriptive findings. In particular, this framework evaluates UN policies concerning prevention and remedial actions for SEA concerning peacekeepers’ children against the standards established by international human rights norms. Additionally, the actions undertaken by host and sending States regarding these children are evaluated based on the human rights standards outlined in the binding and non-binding instruments ratified or adopted by these states and the relevant agreements they have concluded with the UN.