8am BST
* Xan Rice in Nairobi
* guardian.co.uk,
* Tuesday May 27 2008
* Article history
A global watchdog should be urgently established to monitor sexual abuse of children by peacekeepers and humanitarian workers, a leading aid agency said today.
Save the Children said that despite international commitments to tackle the problem, the scale of the exploitation of minors remained "significant". In its report, No One To Turn To, the agency said that research in south Sudan, Ivory Coast and Haiti suggested there was still "chronic underreporting" of sexual abuse in conflict-affected countries, where children as young as six were being targeted by adult foreigners.
Abuses included rape, child prostitution, pornography, sexual assault, and the trading of food and mobile phones for sex. Children told researchers that most victims were too afraid to report the crime, fearing punishment, stigmatisation or the withdrawal of aid.
"It is hard to imagine a more grotesque abuse of authority or flagrant violation of children's rights," said Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK.
In recent years UN peacekeepers of various nationalities have been accused of exploiting children while on duty in Liberia, Haiti and Democratic Republic of Congo. But Save the Children said perpetrators of sexual abuse were also to be found in every type of humanitarian organisations, and at all grades.
It cited internal statistics to back this up; in 2007 eight employees of Save the Children UK were accused of sexual misconduct. Three of the cases were proven, with the staff dismissed. There were also seven cases filed against adults working for the aid agency's local partners.
"Obviously the vast majority of aid workers are not involved in any form of abuse or exploitation, but in life-saving essential humanitarian work," Whitbread said. "However all humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency situations, including Save the Children UK, must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on."
The report said that while the UN in particular had made efforts to combat sexual abuse of children by its staff and peacekeepers in recent years, there remained "endemic failures in the response to allegations of abuse when they had been officially reported".
A UN spokesman told the BBC it was impossible to ensure "zero incidents" among its 200,000 personnel serving around the world.
"What we can do is get across a message of zero tolerance, which for us means zero complacency when credible allegations are raised and zero impunity when we find that there has been malfeasance that's occurred," he said.
Besides calling for a new international watchdog to monitor efforts of international agencies to address the problem, Save the Children also recommended that the UN establish local complaints mechanisms to make it easier for victims to report abuses.
Save the Children said that despite international commitments to tackle the problem, the scale of the exploitation of minors remained "significant". In its report, No One To Turn To, the agency said that research in south Sudan, Ivory Coast and Haiti suggested there was still "chronic underreporting" of sexual abuse in conflict-affected countries, where children as young as six were being targeted by adult foreigners.
Abuses included rape, child prostitution, pornography, sexual assault, and the trading of food and mobile phones for sex. Children told researchers that most victims were too afraid to report the crime, fearing punishment, stigmatisation or the withdrawal of aid.
"It is hard to imagine a more grotesque abuse of authority or flagrant violation of children's rights," said Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK.
In recent years UN peacekeepers of various nationalities have been accused of exploiting children while on duty in Liberia, Haiti and Democratic Republic of Congo. But Save the Children said perpetrators of sexual abuse were also to be found in every type of humanitarian organisations, and at all grades.
It cited internal statistics to back this up; in 2007 eight employees of Save the Children UK were accused of sexual misconduct. Three of the cases were proven, with the staff dismissed. There were also seven cases filed against adults working for the aid agency's local partners.
"Obviously the vast majority of aid workers are not involved in any form of abuse or exploitation, but in life-saving essential humanitarian work," Whitbread said. "However all humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency situations, including Save the Children UK, must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on."
The report said that while the UN in particular had made efforts to combat sexual abuse of children by its staff and peacekeepers in recent years, there remained "endemic failures in the response to allegations of abuse when they had been officially reported".
A UN spokesman told the BBC it was impossible to ensure "zero incidents" among its 200,000 personnel serving around the world.
"What we can do is get across a message of zero tolerance, which for us means zero complacency when credible allegations are raised and zero impunity when we find that there has been malfeasance that's occurred," he said.
Besides calling for a new international watchdog to monitor efforts of international agencies to address the problem, Save the Children also recommended that the UN establish local complaints mechanisms to make it easier for victims to report abuses.
No comments:
Post a Comment