UN peacekeepers stand accused of abusing those they are sent to protect. Children as young as six are being sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid workers, says a leading UK charity, Save the Children, according to BBC online Tuesday.
After research involving hundreds of children from Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, the charity said better reporting mechanisms needed to be introduced – among them an international watchdog – to deal with what it called “endemic failures” in responding to reported cases of abuse.
The charity noted, that the most shocking aspect of child sex abuse is that most of it goes unreported and unpunished, with children too scared to speak out.
A 13-year-old girl described to the BBC how 10 UN peacekeepers gang-raped her in a field near her Ivory Coast home.
– They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me… I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing, she said.
“I was terrified. Then they just left me there bleeding.” No action has been taken against the soldiers.
The report also found that aid workers have been sexually abusing boys and girls.
roblem. – All humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency situations, including Save the Children UK, must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on, said Save the Children UK chief executive Jasmine Whitbread.
The UN has up to 200.000 personnel serving around the world.
