Between protection and violation: An analysis of gender, coloniality and race in UN peacekeeping sexual exploitation and abuse

The United Nations has long positioned itself as a global leader in ending gender-based violence. However, its peacekeeping missions have been repeatedly implicated in sexual exploitation and abuse against the very populations they were deployed to protect. Using the Democratic Republic of Congo as a case study, this paper argues that peacekeeper-perpetrated sexual exploitation and abuse are not isolated acts of misconduct but reflect deeper structures of inequality. It examines the blurred boundaries between security and humanitarianism in conflict zones, arguing that peacekeeping missions also function as political sites of power where women are positioned as paradoxical subjects of both protection and violation. Drawing on critical race theory, this paper also highlights how survivors are positioned as hyper-visible objects of exploitation but invisible as victims, demonstrating how systems intended to protect actively reproduces harm. It calls for accountability frameworks that move beyond performative compliance to strengthening survivors’ access to justice.