Mike Pflanz
01/04/2007

Click here to read the entire article.

Below is an excerpt of an article from the Daily Telegraph:


The United Nations said last night that it was launching an investigation into allegations reported in The Daily Telegraph that its peacekeepers and staff have abused children in southern Sudan.
 
A spokesman for Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said the organisation was "deeply concerned by press reports of allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel in Juba [the regional capital]".

--

The Daily Telegraph yesterday reported allegations of blue berets paying children as young as 12 for sex in the mission in southern Sudan, known as UNMIS. The abuse allegedly began two years ago when the mission moved in to help rebuild the region after a 23-year civil war.

--

The Daily Telegraph has learned of more than 20 victims' accounts claiming that some peacekeeping and civilian staff based in Juba regularly pick up young children in their UN vehicles and force them to have sex.

It is thought that hundreds may have been abused.

--

Miss Montas said the UN would treat credible allegations of sexual exploitation as serious offences to be investigated by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which has a team permanently based in Sudan that investigates all allegations of abuse.

--

Charities, human rights groups and southern Sudanese government officials called on the UN to do more than investigate. They insisted that the perpetrators of the alleged abuse must be identified and punished.

"There is no greater smear on the whole UN name than these persistent claims of sexual abuse by its troops on the people they are supposed to protect," said Sarah Martin, a senior analyst with Refugees International in New York.

"This goes on to some extent in every UN mission across the world and the new secretary-general must make sure it is at the top of his agenda."

Efforts had been made at UN headquarters to address the problem, Mrs Martin said, but UN managers on the ground were slow to implement the changes ordered from above.

"There is a lot of good work done in New York, but some of the managers have not got rid of these old attitudes that 'boys will be boys'.

"It is outrageous and completely undermines UN efforts to address this problem."

Officials with the southern Sudan government, which enjoys close relations with the UN mission, called for immediate investigations.

--

The national government in Khartoum, which opposes requests for peacekeepers to be allowed into the north-western conflict region of Darfur, said that if the "disturbing" allegations were verified it would take "appropriate action".