The United Nations revealed six new alleged child sex abuse cases by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, the Associated Press reports. U.N. officials said at a press conference Friday that five girls and a boy accused European troops of abusing them. According to a statement from the U.N. human rights office, the youngest victim, a 7-year-old girl, said she performed oral sex on French soldiers in exchange for water and a sachet of cookies. These latest allegations also involve Georgian troops who are part of the European Union force. A soldier from another European country was also implicated but has not been named because additional corroboration is needed. Its hard to imagine the outrage that people working for the United Nations in the causes of peace and security feel when these kinds of allegations come to light, said U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Anthony Banbury. The incidents happened in 2014 at a camp for displaced people but surfaced only recently. In 2015, there were 69 confirmed sexual abuse cases involving U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world. That number includes 22 cases in Central African Republic. In 2014, there were 51 cases. More... [HR][/HR] * * * * * * * * * *I don't have much words for this except that here we have a situation where desperate people, including children, are taken advantage of through sexual misbehavior. It should go without saying that peacekeeping should not involve inflicting sexual abuse against children. I've often wondered if peacekeepers weren't more problems than they worth and here we have this.
