Posted on 02/26/2002 11:44:34 PM PST by grimalkin
An investigation by the United Nations and a major children's charity has uncovered allegations that aid workers in West Africa have been involved in the widespread sexual abuse of refugee children, offering food rations in return for favors.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Save the Children U.K. said Tuesday that children interviewed late last year in camps in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone also accused U.N. peacekeepers and community leaders of exploitation.
The internal report was commissioned by the two organizations following sustained allegations of abuse.
Paul Nolan, child protection manager for Save The Children, said the investigative team discovered a widespread and "possibly endemic" culture of exploitation.
"It's a problem we know has been around for some time. There have been abuses in the past. What this does is show, in very stark terms, in the words of children themselves, the kinds of experiences they are being subjected to," Nolan said in a telephone interview in London.
"A whole range of people in a position of authority and trust were abusing those positions. All in return for sexual favors."
In testimonies taken mainly from girls under the age of 18, more than 40 agencies and non-governmental organizations were named, along with 67 individuals. NGOs, including relief agencies, work among people afflicted by warfare, disease, starvation and natural disasters.
Many girls talked about giving sexual favors in return for food, saying they did not realize they were entitled to the rations without conditions. Others said they negotiated sex for shelter, education and medicine.
Most of the alleged abusers were male national staff who targeted girls but Nolan said some boys had also been exploited by the actions of women.
"The kids are in a desperate situation. In order to survive, they have to make the choice between going without food or selling themselves, the only currency they have left to them," he said.
Some of the consequences were early pregnancy, teen-age motherhood, and high-risk behavior that exposes children to sexually transmitted disease, like HIV.
Nolan said the UNHCR and Save The Children were withholding the names of agencies allegedly involved until the investigation is complete, but added: "It's a problem that cuts across the whole of the sector."
The report, which said the problem was worst in places that had well-established aid programs, said the allegations made by children could not be independently verified.
"Nevertheless, the number of allegations leaves no doubt that there is a serious problem of sexual exploitation," the two organizations announced.
Ron Redmond, UNHCR spokesman, said the findings had been released before the report was complete "because of the disturbing nature of these allegations, because of the apparent scope of the problem, and because of the need for an immediate and coordinated approach to implement measures by a wide range of agencies and organizations."
Redmond said the UNHCR was planning to introduce measures to combat child abuse, including more international workers at camps and increased privacy for women and girls.
"With more than 40 organizations and agencies mentioned in the various testimonies, we want to get everyone together to try to rectify this situation as quickly as possible," he said in a telephone interview from Geneva.
A complaints mechanism would be established to allow refugees to raise problems with senior UNHCR officials, Redmond said.
"What is happening is the refugees have told the team there that they don't have anyone they can complain to," he said.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced over more than a decade of violence in that region of Africa.
Liberia was destroyed by a 1989-96 civil war, while Sierra Leone's decade-long conflict was officially declared over last month.
Guinea for years was spared the violence that convulsed its two neighbors, whose citizens it welcomed by the hundreds of thousands. But the country's reputation as a haven was shattered two years ago when fighting broke out along its borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The clashes sparked an exodus of refugees, who decided to take their chances back home.
While clashes have subsided in Guinea, a recent upsurge of fighting in Liberia has sent tens of thousands of civilians on the move again.
On the Web: www.unhcr.ch
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