A leaked draft report from the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), under the United Nations (UN), has it that UN peacekeepers deployed to Africa and the Caribbean, have used money and other personal belongings, to lure poor and vulnerable women into sexual relations.
The report said these sexual abuses widely happened in Liberia and Haiti. In Haiti, it is said 231 women admitted to having “transactional sexual relationships” with peacekeepers, in exchange for jewellery, church shoes, dresses, fancy underwear, perfume, cell phones, radios, and televisions, among other things.
The OIOS, said 33 percent of the abuses were committed by civilians helping in the peacekeeping missions, however, civilians only represent 17 percent of the mission’s personnel.
A survey of 489 women, aged between 18 and 30, in the Liberian capital-Monrovia, showed that over a quarter of the city’s women had engaged in sexual relations with UN peacekeepers for money.
These women admitted in an interview for the report, that they were hungry, homeless and needed items for their babies and their households, compelling them to agree to terms proposed by peacekeepers.
What propels the report further is the fact that significant numbers of these women were said to be minors, with the majority of them being under the age of 18. This is in clear violation of the UN’s code of conduct for peacekeepers.
In general, the draft report also pointed out that there were 480 allegations of sexual abuse from 2008 to 2013, with the largest missions registering high numbers of cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Haiti, Sudan and South Sudan.
However, these abuses were said to have underreported by victims due to fear of intimidation or deprivation of the items they were getting from the peacekeepers.
“Evidence from two peacekeeping missions demonstrates that transactional sex is quite common but underreported in peacekeeping missions,” the draft report, dated on May 15, leaked by the French News Agency-AFP said.
This damming report coincides with a recent outcry over allegations of child sexual abuse by French troops helping to restore law and order in the troubled-hit Central African Republic.
The UN Secretary General-Ban Ki-moon, has ordered an immediate and independent external review of the abuses in order to take the necessary action to stop the act from occurring.
Human rights groups have also urged the UN to thoroughly deal with the matter, and make sure that victims are treated accordingly for the harassment and humiliation they have suffered at the hands of peacekeepers.
The United Nations has 125,000 peacekeepers deployed in 16 missions worldwide, and there are fears that similar things might be happening in these missions.
In 2005, a similar report revealed the embarrassment caused by the misconduct of UN forces in devastated communities around the world including Haiti, Sierra Leone, Bosnia, Cambodia, East Timor and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Analysts say it has become an increasingly high profile political problem, for which the UN seems to not have solution for. Many have therefore suggested an increase in the percentage of female peacekeeping personnel, especially at senior levels, to help to promote an environment that will discourage sexual exploitation and abuses.
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