6-year-olds forced into sex for food, group finds
Pastor Dale Morgan
6-year-olds forced into sex for food, group finds*
Charity: Aid workers raping, abusing children
* Story Highlights
* Aid workers and UN peacekeepers are sexually abusing vulnerable
children
* Children as young as 6 have been forced to trade food for sex and
raped
* Charity: A grotesque abuse of authority and violation of
children's rights
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Humanitarian aid workers and United Nation
peacekeepers are sexually abusing small children in war-ravaged and
food-poor countries, a leading European charity has said.
Children like this 15-year-old girl have suffered abuse at the hands of
some UN soldiers and aid workers.
Children as young as 6 have been forced to have sex with aid workers and
peacekeepers in return for food and money, Save the Children UK said in
a report released Tuesday.
After interviewing hundreds of children, the charity said it found
instances of rape, child prostitution, pornography, indecent sexual
assault and trafficking of children for sex.
"It is hard to imagine a more grotesque abuse of authority or flagrant
violation of children's rights," Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of
Save the Children UK, said.
In the report, "No One To Turn To" a 15-year-old girl from Haiti told
researchers: "My friends and I were walking by the National Palace one
evening when we encountered a couple of humanitarian men. The men called
us over and showed us their penises.
"They offered us 100 Haitian gourdes ($2.80) and some chocolate if we
would suck them. I said, 'No,' but some of the girls did it and got the
money."
Save the Children says almost as shocking as the abuse itself, is the
"chronic under-reporting" of the abuses. It believes that thousands more
children around the world could be suffering in silence.
According to the charity, children told researchers they were too
frightened to report the abuse, fearful that the abuser would come back
to hurt them and that they would stop receiving aid from agencies, or
even be punished by their family or community.
"People don't report it because they are worried that the agency will
stop working here, and we need them," a teenage boy in southern Sudan
told Save the Children.
The charity's research was centered on Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and
Haiti, but Save the Children said the perpetrators of sexual abuse of
children could be found in every type of humanitarian organization at
all levels.
Save the Children is calling for a global watchdog to tackle the problem
and said it was working with the U.N. to establish local mechanisms that
will allow victims to easily report abuse.
"We are glad that Save the Children continues to shed a light on this
problem. It actually follows up on a report that we did in 2002 with
Save the Children. I think every population in the world has to confront
this problem of exploitation and abuse of children," said Ron Redmond,
chief spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in
Geneva, Switzerland.
"The United Nations has a zero-tolerance policy. It's one that UNHCR
takes very, very seriously. In refugee camps, we have implemented very
strong reporting mechanisms so that refugees can come forward to report
any abuses or alleged abuses."
In 2003, U.N. Nepalese troops were accused of sexual abuse while serving
in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Six soldiers were later jailed.
A year later, two U.N. peacekeepers were repatriated after being accused
of abuse in Burundi, while U.N. troops also were accused of rape and
sexual abuse in Sudan.
Last year, the U.N. launched an investigation into sexual abuse claims
in Ivory Coast.
The vast majority of aid workers were not involved in any form of abuse
or exploitation, but in "life-saving essential humanitarian work," Save
the Children's Whitbread said.
But humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency
situations "must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this
problem and tackle it head on," she said.
The aid agency said it had fired three workers for breaching its codes
and called on others to do the same. The three men were dismissed in the
past year for having had sex with girls aged 17 -- which the charity
said is not illegal but is cause for loss of employment.
Other UK charities said they supported Save the Children's call for a
global watchdog.
"Oxfam takes a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct by its aid
workers. All our staff across the world are held accountable by a robust
code of conduct," Jane Cocking, Oxfam charity's humanitarian director said.
"We support Save the Children's calls for a global watchdog. We will do
all we can to stamp out this intolerable abuse."