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U.N.Peacekeepers in the Central African Republic rocked by new allegations of sex abuses
United Nation’s peacekeepers in Central African Republic were hit on Wednesday with fresh accusations of sex abuses uncovered by a Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation amid growing concern about a failure to combat sexual misconduct.
Three teenage girls displaced from their homes told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that they had sex with the U.N. peacekeepers over several weeks, resulting in at least 2 pregnancies.
The girls, aged between 14 and 17, live in temporary shelters in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) close to where over 500 U.N. peacekeepers are posted.
The minimum age of sexual consent in Central African Republic is 18. Sexual relations between peacekeepers and civilians are banned under U.N. protocol.
The accusations are the latest in a series of allegations against the 11,000-strong force known as MINUSCA, which has been operational in the country since April 2014. The peacekeeping force, whose mandate refers to “specific protection for women and children”, became mired in a series of sex abuse scandals earlier this year with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon vowing to crackdown on sexual abuse.
One of the girls who spoke to reporters said she was 14 years old. She has given birth to a baby since her relationship with a U.N. soldier began. Another girl, aged 17, who is now seven months pregnant, said the peacekeeper used to come regularly.
Promises to investigate
These girls and a number of other women spoke to reporters this week after eyewitnesses said they saw peacekeepers entering the camps in Bambari, 380 km (235 miles)northeast of the capital Bangui.
In April this year it was revealed that the U.N. peacekeeping soldiers, had assaulted several children over a 6 month period. The scandals escalated and prompted the U.N. in August to replace the head of the U.N. stabilization force in Central African Republic, Babacar Gaye, with Gabonese diplomat Parfait Onanga-Anyanga.
But the allegations of sexual misconduct have not stopped. In September the United Nations said it had received a new allegation of sexual abuse against a U.N. peacekeeper in Central African Republic.
Presented with the findings on Wednesday, Onanga-Anyanga said the allegations of under-age sex would be thoroughly investigated. “This is completely unacceptable behavior by MINUSCA peacekeepers,” he told the reporters in Bangui.
From the United Nations in New York, MINUSCA said in a draft of a statement that it would dispatch a multifunctional team to Bambari to gather facts and take immediate preventive and disciplinary measures as well as corrective action against misconduct.
Onanga-Anyanga said “any single incident of abuse was utterly abhorrent” and expressed sadness that such reports continue to emerge despite MINUSCA’s transparency and zero tolerance policies and efforts to prevent such misconduct, the statement said.
MINUSCA was set up to help stabilize Central African Republic after it was plunged into turmoil in early 2013 when Muslim rebels from a group called Seleka seized power in the majority-Christian country, provoked a violent backlash.
Seleka handed power to a transitional government in 2014 under international pressure and the country is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on December 13 this year.
Source: Reuters