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39 of 44 alleged sexual abuse in UN peacekeeping operations are uniformed personnel: spokesman

Xinhua, May 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Thirty-nine of the 44 allegations involve uniformed personnel in the UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic and other countries, such as Haiti, South Sudan and Cote d'Viore, a UN spokesman said here on Tuesday.

Stephane Dujarric was updating on how the United Nations has been handling allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations and special political missions.

"There is an update on the progress being made on key initiatives, including the vetting of all individuals being deployed for any prior misconduct and the establishment of Immediate Response Teams to gather evidence following reports of sexual exploitation and abuse," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing.

For 2016, the number of allegations recorded so far in peacekeeping and special political missions is 44, of which 29 have been reported in the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA); and seven in the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); two in UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH); and one allegation in each of the following missions: UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO), said the spokesman.

The UN has set up a Trust Fund for victim assistance last March, and the first pledge to that fund has been made by Norway in the amount of 125,000 U.S. dollars, and the UN encourages others to contribute as well, he said.

In early March, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his report that 69 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse were reported in 10 UN peacekeeping missions in 2015 and called for on-site court-martials of alleged perpetrators and DNA testing to identify them.

The report, for the first time, provided the names of all countries whose troops are allegedly involved. The allegations will be posted online and updated with the progress and outcome of investigations.

The 69 allegations reported last year were a marked increase from the 52 in 2014, and higher than the 66 in 2013, the report said.

Nearly one-third of the 2015 allegations, or 22, are from the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, which has made headlines over reports of some peacekeepers sent to protect civilians instead traded sex for money and sexually abused minors. Endit