2,000 allegations of sexual abuse against UN peacekeepers in 12 years – report

An AP investigation, drawing on internal UN reports and testimony from victims, states that nearly 2,000 allegations of sexual exploitation have been levelled against peacekeepers worldwide in the past 12 years.

The investigation uncovered more than 300 allegations involving the sexual abuse of children, some as young as 12.

A number of allegations stem from field missions in Haiti, where, according to AP, 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers operated a sex ring between 2004 and 2007, involving nine children.

Peacekeepers from Bangladesh, Brazil, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Uruguay were also implicated in abuse cases, with some abusers said to have coerced victims into performing sexual acts, using food and money in a number of locations around the world. In some cases the abuse is said to have taken place in UN branded trucks.  

The ’s Report on Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: A New Approach http://bit.ly/2mOrMmy 

 

The AP report states that “only a fraction of the alleged perpetrators served jail time.”

The report comes a month after UN Secretary General António Guterres admitted that the organization “continues to grapple with the scourge of sexual exploitation and abuse, despite great efforts over many years to address it.”

 

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