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UN peacekeepers routinely
trade sex for money, jewellery, cellphones and other items in countries where
they are deployed in clear violation of UN rules, according to a draft UN
report ©Mohamed Abdiwahab (AFP)
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UN peacekeepers routinely buy sex with everything from
jewelry to televisions and even shoes in countries where they are deployed, a
draft UN report says, in the latest damning revelations tarnishing its
operations.
A third of sexual abuse allegations targeting UN
personnel involve children and teenagers under 18, according to the report by
the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), obtained by AFP Thursday.
Interviews done with victims in Haiti and Liberia
suggest that the United Nations is downplaying the scale of the problem by
underreporting cases of sexual abuse and exploitation by its peacekeeping
personnel.
In Haiti, 231 people
admitted to having "transactional sexual relationships" with
peacekeepers in exchange for "jewelry, 'church' shoes, dresses, fancy
underwear, perfume, cell phones, radios, televisions and, in a few cases,
laptops."
The women interviewed in
the report said they were hungry, homeless or needed items for their babies or
their households.
A survey of 489 women
aged 18 to 30 in the Liberian capital Monrovia showed that over a quarter of
the city's women had engaged in sex with UN peacekeepers, usually for money.
When peacekeepers refused
to pay, some women in Haiti "withheld the badges of peacekeepers and
threatened to reveal their infidelity via social media," according to the
report.
- 'Truly abhorrent' -
The report pointed to the
surveys and interviews done in Haiti and Liberia as indicative of a broader
trend in peacekeeping of trading sex for goods.
"Evidence from two
peacekeeping missions demonstrates that transactional sex is quite common but
underreported in peacekeeping missions," said the draft dated May 15.
There were 480
allegations of sexual abuse from 2008 and 2013 with the largest missions
registering high numbers of cases, in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Liberia, Haiti, Sudan and South Sudan.
The OIOS reported that
civilians serving in missions account for 33 percent of all allegations, even
though they only represent 17 percent of the mission's personnel.
UN peacekeeping officials
have pointed to a drop in cases of sexual abuse from 127 in 2007 to 51 last
year, but the reductions "are partly explained by underreporting,"
said the OIOS.
The United Nations
maintains it is enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for sexual misconduct and
that it "strongly discourages sexual relations" between its blue
helmets and the people that they are helping.
But the report cited
widespread confusion among UN peacekeepers on the boundaries that should not be
crossed.
There was a "general
view that people should have romantic rights" and UN staff "raised
the issue of sexuality as a human right," it added.
Taking action against
peacekeepers who engage in transactional sex has been problematic. Civilian
staff are often dismissed while cases involving soldiers are handled by the
countries of origin.
Soldiers are barred from
taking part in future peacekeeping operations while commanders are
"insufficiently" made accountable for the sexual misconduct of their
troops.
The final report, to be
released on Monday, follows an outcry over allegations of child sexual abuse by
French and African troops in the Central African Republic.
Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon has ordered an independent external review after the United Nations
admitted that those cases were poorly handled.
Responding to the
report's findings, Under-Secretary of State Atul Khare said sexual exploitation
"committed by those who should be protectors is truly abhorrent."
Khare noted that UN
efforts to address sexual abuse allegations were producing results, with a
"decreasing trend" at a time when there are more troops and personnel
being deployed in crisis zones.
The United Nations has
125,000 peacekeepers deployed in 16 missions worldwide.
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