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NFT: UN peacekeeper child sex ring exposed

spike : 4/12/2017 6:27 pm
"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — In the ruins of a tropical hideaway where jetsetters once sipped rum under the Caribbean sun, the abandoned children tried to make a life for themselves. They begged and scavenged for food, but they never could scrape together enough to beat back the hunger, until the U.N. peacekeepers moved in a few blocks away.

The men who came from a far-away place and spoke a strange language offered the Haitian children cookies and other snacks. Sometimes they gave them a few dollars. But the price was high: The Sri Lankan peacekeepers wanted sex from girls and boys as young as 12.

"I did not even have breasts," said a girl, known as V01 — Victim No. 1. She told U.N. investigators that over the next three years, from ages 12 to 15, she had sex with nearly 50 peacekeepers, including a "Commandant" who gave her 75 cents. Sometimes she slept in U.N. trucks on the base next to the decaying resort, whose once-glamorous buildings were being overtaken by jungle.

Justice for victims like V01 is rare. An Associated Press investigation of U.N. missions during the past 12 years found nearly 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and other personnel around the world — signaling the crisis is much larger than previously known. More than 300 of the allegations involved children, the AP found, but only a fraction of the alleged perpetrators served jail time.

Legally, the U.N. is in a bind. It has no jurisdiction over peacekeepers, leaving punishment to the countries that contribute the troops.

The AP interviewed alleged victims, current and former U.N. officials and investigators and sought answers from 23 countries on the number of peacekeepers who faced such allegations and, what if anything, was done to investigate. With rare exceptions, few nations responded to repeated requests, while the names of those found guilty are kept confidential, making accountability impossible to determine.

Without agreement for widespread reform and accountability from the U.N.'s member states, solutions remain elusive.

Here in Haiti, at least 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers exploited nine children in a sex ring from 2004 to 2007, according to an internal U.N. report obtained by the AP. In the wake of the report, 114 peacekeepers were sent home. None was ever imprisoned.

In March, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced new measures to tackle sexual abuse and exploitation by U.N. peacekeepers and other personnel. But the proclamation had a depressingly familiar ring: More than a decade ago, the United Nations commissioned a report that promised to do much the same thing, yet most of the reforms never materialized.

For a full two years after those promises were made, the children in Haiti were passed around from soldier to soldier. And in the years since, peacekeepers have been accused of sexual abuse the world over.

In response to the AP's investigation, the U.N.'s head of field support said Wednesday the international body was aware of shortcomings in the system."





U stands for Useless - ( New Window )
Horrifying but unsurprising  
JerryNYG : 4/12/2017 6:34 pm : link
Children are treated as commodities all over the world, including here in the good old US of A.

All too often, the people doing the exploiting are in a position of power or trust over the children.

What a sad situation.
I don't say this lightly  
Dunedin81 : 4/12/2017 6:51 pm : link
The one constant accompanying any prolonged UN peacekeeping mission is a mushrooming in the sex trade. It is measurable in every area where they have had more than a temporary presence. And no, nothing will be done about it.
RE: I don't say this lightly  
mrvax : 4/12/2017 7:14 pm : link
In comment 13425765 Dunedin81 said:
Quote:
The one constant accompanying any prolonged UN peacekeeping mission is a mushrooming in the sex trade. It is measurable in every area where they have had more than a temporary presence. And no, nothing will be done about it.



You might get some action if the UN fined a hefty sum of $ on the countries involved. Then ensure those funds go to a trust for the victims.
RE: I don't say this lightly  
David in LA : 4/12/2017 7:23 pm : link
In comment 13425765 Dunedin81 said:
Quote:
The one constant accompanying any prolonged UN peacekeeping mission is a mushrooming in the sex trade. It is measurable in every area where they have had more than a temporary presence. And no, nothing will be done about it.


You are spot on
Too bad Dennis Hastert wasn't still  
GentleGiant : 4/12/2017 9:04 pm : link
Speaker of the House, he would gotten to the bottom of this.
This is a horrible world sometimes  
trueblueinpw : 4/13/2017 10:35 am : link
What kind of animals are these people? I can only hope there's a special place in hell for these scumbags as obviously there's no justice here on earth. Until they solve this barbaric corruption the UN will remain a pathetic and impotent farce.
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