Sex crime allegations against UN troops sharply up
The United Nations says there is a "deeply concerning" increase in allegations of sex abuse by its troops from as many as 21 countries.
In a report released by UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday, the international body revealed for the first time the nationalities of the troops facing the allegations.
Most of the allegations involve troops from African countries in the "name and shame" list, led by the Democratic Republic of Congo and followed by Morocco and South Africa.
The UN said it received 99 complaints of sexual abuse against its staff members on missions across the world in 2015. The figure marks a sharp increase from that of 2014, which was 80.
At least 22 children were sexually abused by peacekeepers but that figure may be higher as the age of the victims was not always determined, the report said.
Back in December 2015, an independent panel censured the UN’s “gross institutional failure” in handling allegations against French and other peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR).
It said the months-long delay in addressing children’s accounts of abuse had led to even more reported assaults and exploitation.
Most of the allegations of abuse in the CAR involved peacekeepers from the DR Congo, with others made against European and Canadian peacekeepers.
Allegations were also made against troops from Germany, Burundi, Ghana, Senegal, Madagascar, Rwanda, the Congo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Tanzania, Slovakia, Niger, Moldova, Togo, South Africa, Morocco, Benin, Nigeria and Gabon.
The report recommended UN member states to make it easier to identify suspected perpetrators in order to prosecute them.
It called for the UN General Assembly and troop contributing countries to allow prosecutions inside the countries where they committed the crimes.
It also urged the creation of a DNA registry of all peacekeepers.
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