Saturday, January 08, 2005

Eggs for Sex with Minors



Read this:

U.N. peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo exchanged eggs, bread and a few dollars for sex with girls they were meant to protect, the United Nations watchdog agency has said.
Soldiers would regularly have sex with girls as young as 13 in rundown shelters, in the bush near the military camps and on the bare ground behind buildings usually just after dark, a report from the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight (OIOS) said Friday.
Many of the girls were raped and had lost their families in a recent civil war, the report said. Forced to support themselves, they were desperate for food and money.


Disgusting. But it gets worse:


The U.N. can punish its civilian staff but military personnel fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries. It can only ask the host country to repatriate accused soldiers and punish them at home.


And the most cowardly part of it all is this:

The OIOS report stated it had planned to name the countries whose troops were guilty of sexual abuse but the U.N.'s Department of Peacekeeping Operations prevented it.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations said he would not "name and shame" the nationalities as it could jeopardize cooperation from countries which contribute troops to peacekeeping missions.


Yes, let's not name and shame any countries! Let's just ask them to participate in future eggs for sex missions. The girls are not that important.
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Sources familiar with the investigation said allegations have been made against soldiers from South Africa, Uruguay, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia and Nepal.