Thursday, 08 September 2011 11:49
Outrage is mounting around the world against United Nations “peace-keeping” soldiers as sex-crime allegations, ranging from charges of rape and exploitation in Haiti to wide-spread sexual abuse of children in the Ivory Coast, have exploded into the headlines this week.One of the most alarming incidents in recent times — several Uruguayan troops serving under the UN in Haiti held down and gang raped a teenage boy — was documented on video and spread over the Internet. The crime sparked even more anti-UN protests in the poverty-stricken Caribbean nation.
Past demonstrations, related to UN troops spreading cholera, abusing citizens, or other matters, have resulted in Haitians being killed by international forces. But this time the concerns are being taken seriously.
The resulting global uproar over what Haitian President Michel Martelly described as the “collective rape carried out against a young Haitian” caused an international scandal that is still growing. The President of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, sent a letter to Martelly earlier this week apologizing and promising accountability. "We apologize for the abuse that some soldiers of my country perpetrated," Mujica wrote in the letter. "Although the damage is irreparable, have the certainty that we will investigate thoroughly and apply the harshest sanctions against those responsible."
The UN, on the other hand, appeared to be more worried that the exposure might tarnish its image. "We know that while there is justifiable outrage, there are also some who would use this for political ends," UN deputy envoy to Haiti Nigel Fisher told the Associated Press.
But while this well-documented case of gang rape has indeed triggered action, human-rights advocates say that the problem is systemic. And, they argue, it has been ignored for years.
“In 2007, it was discovered and reported that girls as young as 13 were having sex with U.N. peacekeepers for as little as $1 in Haiti,” noted Ezili Dantò, president of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN), in a letter to the international body. “Moreover, Sri Lankan soldiers were accused of systematically raping Haitian women and girls, some as young as 7 years old.”
The UN claims “dozens” of its soldiers had been punished for sexual abuses in the country in recent years. But based on publicly available figures, critics say many more have escaped justice.
“If only a dozen UN peacekeepers were punished for sexual abuse and rape, then that means, for instance, most of the 114 Sri Lankan soldiers deported back to Sri Lanka from Haiti in 2007 for sexual abuse and rape in Haiti did not get punished,” Dantò wrote, citing other examples as well. “Humanitarian aid workers and UN peacekeepers accused of sexually abusing and sexual trafficking children in Haiti should have their names and their country’s identities exposed so that this matter may be cleaned up once and for all.”
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