Child-abusing peacekeepers escape justice

MORE than 100 UN peacekeepers stationed in Haiti have been implicated in a child sex ring where children as young as 12 were exploited, but have never been held accountable for their abuses.

From 2004 to 2007, at least 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers on the island exploited nine children on a daily basis and, while 144 peacekeepers were sent home following an internal UN report on the scandal, so far none have been sent to jail.

A girl identified as Victim Number One, told UN investigators that from the ages of 12 to 15 she had sex with nearly 50 peacekeepers, adding that “I did not even have breasts”.

She recalled sleeping in UN trucks and having sex with a “Commandant” who gave her 75 cents in exchange.

Victim Number Eight said he had sex with more than 20 peacekeepers, where they would commonly remove their name tags before taking him away to trucks. As the UN peacekeepers are made up of troops from around the world, prosecuting peacekeepers relies on the co-operation of the country that sends the troops.

An investigation going back at least a decade found there were close to 2 000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers across the globe, with over 300 of these involving children.

Overall, however, despite the number of cases, there have only been a handful of convictions.