UN investigates 150 allegations of sex abuse
23 November 2004
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations is investigating about 150 allegations of
sexual abuse by UN civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them
recorded on videotape, a senior UN official said yesterday.
The accusations include paedophilia, rape and prostitution, said Jane Holl
Lute, an assistant secretary-general in the peacekeeping department.
Lute, an American, said there was photographic and video evidence for some of
the allegations and most of the allegations came to light since the spring.
"We are shining a light on this problem in order to determine its scope, and we
will not stop there," Lute told a news conference. She did not say if 150
different people were involved but indicated some suspects committed more than
one offence.
In May the United Nations reported some 30 cases of abuse among peacekeepers in
the northeastern town of Bunia, where half of the soldiers are stationed.
Since then one French soldier was sent home and three UN civilian staff were
suspended, with many other cases expected to follow. Reports from the region
say soldiers from other nations have also been repatriated to face charges at
home.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, the UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, went to
the sprawling central African country, formally called the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, last month. He has promised an overhaul of staff discipline.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe UN internal oversight office is expected to
release a report soon on the abuse in Bunia. In addition, the peacekeeping
department is sending at least two other teams to Congo to deal with various
aspects of the problem, Lute said.
The United Nations has jurisdiction over its civilian staff but troops are
contributed by individual nations. Consequently, the world body has only the
power to demand a specific country repatriate an accused soldier and punish him
or her at home.
The revelations of peacekeeping abuses is usually kept quiet at the United
Nations until reporters or individual countries disclose the news, as happened
in Cambodia in the early 1990s and later in Somalia, Bosnia and Ethiopia.
In the Congo, the United Nations mission has some 10,800 peacekeepers and some
60 civilian staff, led by an American, William Lacy Swing. The mission has
previously released reports of abuses but not details of the ongoing
investigation.
Annan on Friday expressed outrage at the conduct of soldiers and civilians in
the Congo, saying, "I am afraid there is clear evidence that acts of gross
misconduct have taken place."
"This is a shameful thing for the United Nations to have to say, and I am
absolutely outraged by it," he said while in Tanzania where Guehenno briefed
him.
Annan said the allegations concerned a small number of UN personnel and
promised to hold those involved accountable.
"I have long made it clear that my attitude to sexual exploitation and abuse is
one of zero tolerance, without exception, and I am determined to implement this
policy in the most transparent manner," Annan said.
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| User: "Tadapope" |
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| Title: Re: UN Staff implicated in paedophilia, rapes, prostitution |
24 Nov 2004 01:20:38 AM |
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It's falling apart. Don't let any of it hit you.
Tangents are infinite in all of nature in
all universes constantly and at random.
Oh Joy!
Tom
The Psychedelic Pope
Patron Saint of the Internet
http://www.apple2.org.za/gswv/me/
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| User: "TonyZ2001" |
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| Title: Re: UN Staff implicated in paedophilia, rapes, prostitution |
24 Nov 2004 08:06:26 AM |
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tadapope@aol.com
wrote:
It's falling apart. Don't let any of it hit >you.
It's being exposed as the ***** pit that it is.
Tony
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