The international organisation says that almost 200 of its peacekeepers around the world have been disciplined for sex offences - including rape and child abuse - but not one seems to have been prosecuted
By Francis Elliott and Ruth Elkins
The Independent
January 7, 2007
Nearly 200 United Nations peacekeepers have been disciplined in the past three years for sex offences ranging from rape to assaults on minors, the UN has admitted. Yet none appears to have been prosecuted.
Senior UN officials said on Friday that 319 soldiers, police or civilians serving on missions have been investigated for sexual misconduct over the past three years, and 180 have been dismissed or repatriated.
These numbers do not include allegations levelled at members of the UN's own staff. According to an internal UN report, these total 91, including 13 alleged to have had sex with minors, 15 who gave jobs in return for sex, 17 who had sex with prostitutes, five who face allegations of rape and one person who is alleged to have committed sexual assault.
The internal report, which was published in May last year, presents data on allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse within the UN system between January and December 2006. It also says that 40 UN staff were alleged to have carried out other forms of sexual abuse.
Presenting the figures about the 319 personnel investigated, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Jane Holl Lute, said that the inquiries had resulted in the summary dismissal of 18 civilians, and the repatriation of 17 international police and 144 military personnel. However, she did not cite any prosecutions.
According to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, during the first 10 months of 2006, 63 per cent of misconduct allegations involving peacekeeping personnel related to sexual exploitation and abuse, a third involving prostitution. A new anti-prostitution campaign is about to start, "to target what has been a troubling pathway for sexual exploitation and abuse in the missions", Ms Lute said.
