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Evidence of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers uncovered


Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service has uncovered fresh allegations of the sexual abuse of children by United Nations peacekeepers.

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An investigation to be broadcast today (Thursday 30 November 2006) uncovered wide-ranging accounts including child prostitution and rape from two of the UN's largest peacekeeping missions, in Haiti and Liberia.

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As the UN prepares for a Conference on Eliminating Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN and NGO Personnel next Monday, girls have told the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ of regular encounters with peacekeepers where sex is demanded in return for food or money and a senior official with the United Nations has accepted that the claims are credible.

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Allegations have been made from peacekeeping operations across the world that members of the missions have abused their positions of trust - offering food and money in exchange for sex with some of the most poor, vulnerable and desperate people on the planet - many of them children.

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Jane Holl Lute, Assistant Secretary General for UN Peacekeeping Operations,Μύacknowledges that sexual abuse is widespread.

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She says: "We've had a problem probably since the inception of peacekeeping - problems of this kind of exploitation of vulnerable populations. My operating presumption is that this is either a problem or a potential problem in every single one of our missions."

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In Haiti a street girl as young as 11 reported sexual abuse by peacekeeping soldiers, outside the gates of the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince.

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A 14-year-old described being abducted from the street at gunpoint and raped inside a UN naval base two years ago.

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Despite detailed medical and circumstantial evidence, this allegation was dismissed by the United Nations for lack of evidence, and the alleged attacker allowed to return to his home country.

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A local NGO worker in Liberia, who did not wish to be named, said: "Peacekeepers are unfortunately still taking advantage of the situation to sexually exploit young girls; reports about sexual abuse involving peacekeeping are still coming to us. The acts are still rampant despite pronouncements that they have been curbed."

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However there remain allegations that measures to police and curb misconduct are nowhere near as strong as they should be.

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Sarah Martin, an advocate with the agency Refugees International, says there remains a "culture of silence" in some military deployments, and that fear of punishment is currently not enough to ensure compliance with UN rules.

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The report is part of a week of programmes from Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service, Generation Next, which explores the real issues in the world according to under-18s.

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The full report can be heard on Thursday 30 November on Assignment on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service at 9.05am (GMT) and Newsnight on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Two at 10.30pm.

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Category: World Service; News
Date: 30.11.2006
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