Posted on 11/22/2004 5:55:39 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
THE United Nations is investigating about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by UN civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them recorded on videotape, a senior UN official said today.
The accusations include pedophilia, rape and prostitution, said Jane Holl Lute, an assistant secretary-general in the peacekeeping department.
Ms Lute, an American, said there was photographic and video evidence for some of the allegations and most of the allegations came to light since the spring.
"We are shining a light on this problem in order to determine its scope, and we will not stop there," Ms Lute told a news conference. She did not say if 150 different people were involved but indicated some suspects committed more than one offence.
In May the UN reported some 30 cases of abuse among peacekeepers in the north eastern town of Bunia, where half of the soldiers are stationed.
Since then one French soldier was sent home and three UN civilian staff were suspended, with many other cases expected to follow. Reports from the region say soldiers from other nations have also been repatriated to face charges at home.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, the UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, went to the sprawling central African country, formally called the Democratic Republic of the Congo, last month. He has promised an overhaul of staff discipline.
The UN internal oversight office is expected to release a report soon on the abuse in Bunia. In addition, the peacekeeping department is sending at least two other teams to Congo to deal with various aspects of the problem, Ms Lute said.
The revelations of peacekeeping abuses is usually kept quiet at the UN until reporters or individual countries disclose the news, as happened in Cambodia in the early 1990s and later in Somalia, Bosnia and Ethiopia.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
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