Cape Town - The South African National Defence Force will take part in discussions with other members of the UN with troops involved in peacekeeping missions.
This comes at the time the SANDF has been rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct by its members against female soldiers or citizens in foreign countries.
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula recently told Parliament, during questions to ministers in the security cluster, that they were cracking down against soldiers involved in sexual offences.
She said they would not tolerate any sexual abuse in peacekeeping missions or other operations of the army.
In a statement the department of defence said it would be taking part in the discussions on Monday about the conduct of soldiers deployed in peacekeeping missions abroad.
This is part of the UN high level panel on strengthening conduct of soldiers in peacekeeping missions.
The meeting will be held in New York.
“South Africa as a troop and police contributing country has launched a number of investigations into allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by SANDF personnel deployed in peacekeeping missions internally and externally with a view to hold the perpetrators accountable in line with established legal and medical processes required to facilitate such cases.”
SA has compiled a report on SEA which investigated the reporting, management and finalisation of cases of sexual exploitation and abuse and related sexual offences in the SANDF in December 2019. In that regard SA has been requested by the UN to share the outcome of the report and best practices thereof,” said the department of defence in a statement.