Girl raped by UN peacekeepers recounts brutal ordeal

In her early teenage years, Leza was among thousands of people who fled their homes to seek shelter after ethnic and sectarian violence broke out in the Central African Republic, when Christian armed groups started coordinated attacks against the country’s Muslim population in retaliation for the ousting of President François Bozizé. Leza thought she would be safe in the hands of the United Nations’ peacekeepers in the capital Bangui but not all Central African girls end up safe and sound with the UN personnel in the country.

Leza (not a real name) could be among many women and children who had been abused sexually and mentally by the UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.

“When I cried, he slapped me hard and put his hand over my mouth,” said a 12-year-old girl who was reportedly raped by a UN police officer. United Nations Children's Fund said on Sunday that they met with the girl and she recounted to them the "brutal ordeal" she went through.

“Our hope is that the process of healing for this young girl can now begin. It is also important that she is afforded absolute privacy so she does not suffer any further distress,” said an official statement released by UNICEF.

On August 11, Amnesty International released a report implicating UN troops in the rape of the girl and the killing of a 16-year-old boy and his father earlier this month, when the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) were carrying out an operation in the capital Bangui's PK5 neighborhood, one of the few remaining residential areas for Muslim refugees.

Based on the report, the girl had been hiding in a bathroom during a house search on August 2 when a man allegedly wearing the blue helmet and vest of a UN peacekeeper took her outside and raped her behind a truck. And in the other case, Balla Hadji, and his son Souleimane Hadji, were killed by MINUSCA gunfire in front of their house. A neighbor who witnessed the shooting told Amnesty International that “they were going to shoot at anything that moved.”

Who are these UN-peaceful peacekeepers?

On April 10, 2014, the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of MINUSCA over concerns related to the security, humanitarian, human rights, and political crisis in the CAR, with the utmost priority of protecting civilians. The force is comprised of nearly 11,000 troops drawn from various nations around the world.

According to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, since its creation, the mission has received 57 cases of misconduct, 11 of which related to sexual exploitation and abuse, but the mission has announced its determination over a thorough investigation into all of sexual exploitation and abuse allegations carried out by its forces in the country.

“The investigation is complicated by the numerous nationalities of police and military personnel involved in the operations launched in the PK5,” said MINUSCA spokesperson Vannina Maestracci at a press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York on Monday.

On Saturday, Ban appointed Parfait Onanga-Anyanga as the new head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the CAR following the dismissal of its previous head over the indiscretions by its forces.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says nearly one million people have been displaced in the CAR since the outbreak of violence that has killed over 1,000 people.

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