From the International Herald Tribune:
A British charity, Save the Children UK, said it had uncovered evidence of sexual abuse of children, some as young as 6, by United Nations peacekeepers and by workers from other international aid groups.
Well, Ban Ki-Moon says he is going to get to the bottom of this mess:
Calling the sexual exploitation of minors a “very serious issue,” Ban reiterated to reporters that he has a “zero tolerance” policy for such acts by U.N. personnel.
“I think that the report is very valuable and does give us some good points to which the United Nations should continue to address this issue,” Ban said. “On all these cases which have been raised, we will very carefully investigate” and will take “necessary measures” where appropriate.
When you get done with that, could you tell us what you all did about this:
LAST MONTH A CLASSIFIED UNITED Nations report prompted Secretary General Kofi Annan to admit that U.N. peacekeepers and staff have sexually abused or exploited war refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The worst of the 150 or so allegations of misconduct–some of them captured on videotape–include pedophilia, rape, and prostitution. While a U.N. investigation into the scandal continues, the organization has just suspended two more peacekeepers in neighboring Burundi over similar charges. The revelations come three years after another U.N. report found “widespread” evidence of sexual abuse of West African refugees.
“The issue with the U.N. is that peacekeeping operations unfortunately seem to be doing the same thing that other militaries do,” Gita Sahgal of Amnesty International told the Christian Science Monitor. “Even the guardians have to be guarded.” That’s not far off the mark. Various U.N. reports and interviews with humanitarian groups suggest that international peacekeeping missions are creating a predatory sexual culture among vulnerable refugees–from relief workers who demand sexual favors in exchange for food to U.N. troops who rape women at gunpoint.
Allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct by U.N. staff stretch back at least a decade, to operations in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. A 2001 report, released by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Save the Children, found that sexual violence against refugees in West Africa was endemic (though some of its findings were denied by a subsequent U.N. team). A year later a coalition of religious organizations sent a letter to Secretary of
State Colin Powell urging the United States to send more human rights monitors into Congo. The U.N. then introduced a “code of conduct” to help prevent future abuses, including prohibitions against sexual activity between staff and children and the exchange of money or food for sex.It now appears, however, that little has changed on the ground.
Oh, yeah. Looks like you did…nothing.
