By John Jalsevac
January 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A UN senior official has admitted that over the last several years the UN has investigated 319 peacekeepers for alleged sexual exploitation and abuse while on missions across the world. Of the 319 peacekeepers that have been investigated, over half were either dismissed from their jobs or ordered to return to their homelands.
The admission of the extent of the scandal follows the publication of an exposé by England’s The Daily Telegraph. In its report The Daily Telegraph presented evidence of over 20 incidents of sexual abuse or exploitation by UN peacekeeping personnel in the town of Juba in Sudan. The reported incidents include cases of sex abuse against children as young as 12; in many cases women and children were given food in exchange for sex.
This is not the first time that UN personnel have come under fire for sexually abusing natives of the localities which they are supposed to be protecting. In the past UN peacekeepers have been accused of sexual abuse in missions from Bosnia and Kosovo to Cambodia, East Timor, Somalia, West Africa and Congo.
Information revealing the improper or criminal activities of UN personnel surfaced amidst a firestorm of controversy in 2004. At that time it was found that the UN was investigating 150 allegations of sexual abuse by UN staff and peacekeepers in Congo, including allegations of rape, prostitution and pedophilia. It was also alleged that in many cases peacekeepers were engaging in cover-ups in order to protect their guilty colleagues.
A report by the advocacy group Refugees International released in October 2005 charged that “A ‘boys will be boys’ attitude in peacekeeping missions breeds tolerance for exploiting and abusing local women.”
U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Jane Holl Lute, said in a press conference that over the last two years, since the story first broke, the UN has been monitoring the problem, and attempting to stem incidents of sex abuse, adding “but we’re not satisfied with where we are.”
Given the large number of UN peacekeepers, said Lute, it is inevitable that some people “are going to behave badly…What’s different now is…our determination to stay with this problem…and constantly improve our ability to deal with it.”
While Lute admitted that 180 UN personnel were either dismissed or repatriated, she did not mention any prosecutions against the peacekeepers, reports The Independent.
According to Lute the UN is about to initiate a new anti-prostitution campaign, “to target what has been a troubling pathway for sexual exploitation and abuse in the missions.”
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Report Charges that UN Soldiers Covering Up Sexual Exploitation, Rape and Abuse
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05102007.html
UN Congo Staff and Soldiers Accused of Prostitution, Rape, and Pedophilia
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/nov/04112408.html