UN troops face child abuse claims

CHILDREN have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found.

Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money. A senior official with the organisation has accepted the claims are credible.The UN has faced several scandals involving its troops in recent years, including a DR Congo paedophile ring and prostitute trafficking in Kosovo.The assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations acknowledges that sexual abuse is widespread.”We’ve had a problem probably since the inception of peacekeeping – problems of this kind of exploitation of vulnerable populations,” Jane Holl Lute told the BBC.”My operating presumption is that this is either a problem or a potential problem in every single one of our missions.”The UN is scheduled to hold a special conference in New York on Monday 4 December, to address the issue.The BBC inquiry was commissioned as part of Generation Next – a week of programmes focusing on people under 18.In Haiti, the BBC’s Mike Williams spoke to a street girl as young as 11 who had reported sexual abuse by peacekeepers outside the gates of the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince.A 14-year-old described her abduction and rape inside a UN naval base in the country two years ago.BBCA senior official with the organisation has accepted the claims are credible.The UN has faced several scandals involving its troops in recent years, including a DR Congo paedophile ring and prostitute trafficking in Kosovo.The assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations acknowledges that sexual abuse is widespread.”We’ve had a problem probably since the inception of peacekeeping – problems of this kind of exploitation of vulnerable populations,” Jane Holl Lute told the BBC.”My operating presumption is that this is either a problem or a potential problem in every single one of our missions.”The UN is scheduled to hold a special conference in New York on Monday 4 December, to address the issue.The BBC inquiry was commissioned as part of Generation Next – a week of programmes focusing on people under 18.In Haiti, the BBC’s Mike Williams spoke to a street girl as young as 11 who had reported sexual abuse by peacekeepers outside the gates of the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince.A 14-year-old described her abduction and rape inside a UN naval base in the country two years ago.BBC