UN staff accused of raping children in Sudan !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Daanyeer]

Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... udan03.xml

By Kate Holt in Juba and Sarah Hughes
Last Updated: 2:40am GMT 04/01/2007Page 1 of 3



The UN said today that it would launch an investigation after the Daily Telegraph reported allegations that UN personnel have abused children in southern Sudan.


Peacekeeping and civilian staff based in Juba are accused of picking up young children and forcing them to have sex

Members of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Sudan are facing allegations of raping and abusing children as young as 12, The Daily Telegraph reported today.

The abuse allegedly began two years ago when the UN mission in southern Sudan (UNMIS) moved in to help rebuild the region after a 23-year civil war. The UN has up to 10,000 military personnel in the region, of all nationalities and the allegations involve peacekeepers, military police and civilian staff.

The first indications of possible sexual exploitation emerged within months of the UN forceÂ’s arrival and The Daily Telegraph has seen a draft of an internal report compiled by the UN childrenÂ’s agency Unicef in July 2005 referring to the problem.

This paper has learnt of more than 20 victimsÂ’ accounts claiming that some peacekeeping and civilian staff based in the town are regularly picking up young children in their UN vehicles and forcing them to have sex. It is thought that hundreds of children may have been abused.

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"I was sitting by the river the first time it happened,” said Jonas, 14, one of more than 20 children who claimed they had been abused this way.

"A man in a white car drove past and asked me if I wanted to get into the car with him. I saw that the car was a UN car because it was white with the black letters on it. The man had a badge on his clothes. When he stopped the car, we got out, he put a blindfold on me and started to abuse me. It was painful and went on for a long time. When it was over we went back to the place we had been, and he pushed me out of the car and left."

Jonas now returns to the same place regularly in the hope of being picked up and paid something for his services. "I know it is a terrible thing to do but I see the UN cars around late at night by the drinking places and I sit there in the hope of being picked up. If I get 1000 SD ($3) a day then that is a good day."

The allegations came just as the new UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, took over saying he will make Darfur, the north-west of Sudan, a priority. The UN is pushing to be allowed to launch a new peacekeeping mission there to help end the humanitarian crisis that has spiralled in recent years.

The Telegraph understands that the Sudanese government, which is deeply opposed to the deployment of UN troops to Darfur, has also gathered evidence, including video footage of Bangladeshi UN workers allegedly having sex with three young girls.

Responding to the report, Jane Holl Lute, the UN assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, said: "There could be truth. These environments are ones in which it is difficult to ascertain the truth.

"I do not believe these are new allegations. Nevertheless, we will treat them as seriously as we treat all other allegations," she told the Associated Press in New York.

She said she had spoken to the force commander and chief of staff in the UN mission in southern Sudan "and I know they are very well briefed on what UN policy is and have taken steps to implement that policy across the board in that mission."

"But we donÂ’t have the facts yet in this case, and we need to ascertain the facts and follow it through to appropriate resolution and take action if necessary.

"We won’t be complacement and there will be no impunity to the full extent of the UN’s authority.”

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[Steeler [Crawler2]]

The dilema in this case is the UNs authority. It doesn't have judicial authority and can't prosecute squat. All it can do is forward evidence to the donor countries.