UN Peacekeepers Rape Congolese
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/18/in...rtner=homepage


In Congo War, Even Peacekeepers Add to Horror
By MARC LACEY

Published: December 18, 2004


BUNIA, Congo, Dec. 16 - In the corner of the tent where she says a soldier forced himself on her, Helen, a frail fifth grader with big eyes and skinny legs, remembers seeing a blue helmet.

The United Nations peacekeeper who tore off her clothes had used a cup of milk to lure her close, she said in her high-pitched voice, fidgeting as she spoke. It was her favorite drink, she said, but one her family could rarely afford. "I was so happy," she said.

After she gulped it down, the foreign soldier pulled Helen, a 12-year-old, into bed, she said. About an hour later, he gave her a dollar, put a finger to his lips and pushed her out of his tent, she said.

In this same eastern outpost, another United Nations peacekeeper, unable to communicate with a 13-year-old Swahili-speaking girl who walked past him, held up a cookie and gestured for her to draw near. As the girl, Solange, who recounted the incident with tears in her eyes the other day, reached for the cookie, the soldier reached for her. She, too, said she was raped.

The United Nations said recently that it had uncovered 150 allegations of sexual abuse committed by United Nations peacekeepers stationed in Congo, many of them here in Bunia where the population has already suffered horrendous atrocities committed by local fighters. The raping of women and girls is an all-too-common tactic in the war raging in Congo's eastern jungles involving numerous militia groups. In Bunia, a program run by Unicef has treated 2,000 victims of sexual violence in recent months. But it is not just the militia members who have been preying on the women. So, too, local women say, have some of the soldiers brought in to keep the peace.

The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, said recently that there was "clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken place" in the United Nations mission in Congo, which began in early 2000 and is known by its French acronym, Monuc. Mr. Annan added, "This is a shameful thing for the United Nations to have to say, and I am absolutely outraged by it."

The number of cases may be impossible for United Nations investigators to determine precisely. Helen and Solange said in recent interviews that they had not told their stories even to their parents, never mind to United Nations officials. Rape carries a heavy stigma here, both girls made clear. They told their stories when approached by a reporter.

"I didn't tell my mother because she would beat me," said a grim-faced Solange, starring at the ground. Solange, a sixth-grade dropout, said she had no interest in visiting a health clinic or seeing one of the psychologists that Unicef has paid for to counsel the many rape victims in and around Bunia. If she seeks help, the girl said, her mother might find out.

Helen's mother is dead, and Helen did not dare tell her father for fear of a beating. She said she knew he would blame her for going near the soldiers in the first place and might even throw her out of the house.

Helen did go on her own to a health clinic soon after the assault because she said she hurt between her legs. The health worker gave her something to drink, which she paid for with the same dollar that the soldier had given her, she said.

"I was so afraid when he took my clothes off," Helen said, fidgeting with her dirty T-shirt. "I was quiet. I didn't say anything."

The allegations leveled against United Nations personnel in Congo include sex with underage partners, sex with prostitutes and rape, an internal United Nations investigation has found. Investigators said they found evidence that United Nations peacekeepers and civilian workers paid $1 to $3 for sex or bartered sexual relations for food or promises of employment. A confidential report prepared by Prince Zeid Raad al-Hussein, Jordan's ambassador to the United Nations, and dated Nov. 8, says the exploitation "appears to be significant, widespread and ongoing."

Violators described in the investigation, which continues, appear to come from around the globe. Fifty countries are represented among the 1,000 civilian employees and 10,800 soldiers who make up the United Nations mission in Congo. Already, a French civilian has been accused of having sex with a girl, though it is unclear where that case stands, and two Tunisian peacekeepers have been sent home, where the local authorities will decide whether to punish them.

The United Nations report details allegations of sexual misconduct by peacekeepers from Nepal, Pakistan, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa and Uruguay, and lists incidents in which some soldiers tried to obstruct investigators.

When they arrive for duty, peacekeepers are presented with the United Nations code of conduct, which forbids "any exchange of money, employment, goods or services for sex."

The home countries are responsible for punishing any of their military personnel who violate the code while taking part in a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

The United Nations, which has had previous scandals in missions in Cambodia and Bosnia, also warns the soldiers against sexual contact with girls under 18, even though the law in Congo permits sex with girls as young as 14.

The United Nations policy says that mistakenly believing someone is older "cannot be considered a defense." The youth of Helen and Solange cannot be mistaken. They said they were abused while selling bananas and avocados to soldiers. Each girl said she was among the girls and women who have flocked to the camps that peacekeepers have set up around Bunia. These two girls walked from tent to tent with fruit balanced on their heads, using gestures to make deals.

Helen would sell her fruit for 10 francs apiece, or a few cents, and would earn about $1 a day. She would give the money to her older sister.

Solange would trade her fruit for the small containers of milk issued to soldiers. She would then sell the milk in town, making about $1.50 a day. She used the money to help her family buy food.

Some of the girls and women who have entered the peacekeepers' camps concede that they had less-than-innocent intentions.

Judith and Saidati, both 15 and sexually experienced with Congolese boys, acknowledged that they were looking for foreign boyfriends as they sold their fruit.

The girls, who have the same father, said in a recent interview that they both found French boyfriends first, when the French Army controlled Bunia last year. Then they each found soldiers from Nepal, one of the countries supplying peacekeepers to the United Nations mission. After that, the girls spent time with soldiers from Morocco, who make up the bulk of the force now patrolling Bunia.

The girls said they each stuck to one soldier apiece and switched to new ones only when their boyfriends were transferred out. Each time they had sex, the soldiers gave them $5, they said. Sometimes, they got other gifts, too, they said.

One day, however, after their latest boyfriends had gone, a social worker visited them and told them of the dangers of having sex with soldiers. The woman sat them down and told them about AIDS and the other sexually transmitted diseases they might get. "She told us not to go anywhere near the soldiers," said Judith, who like the other girls agreed to be identified only by her first name. "She said we're still young and they might make our lives short."

The two half sisters said the social worker's words frightened them, and they said they had not had any boyfriends for the last few months. But they also acknowledged that fewer Moroccan soldiers were propositioning them, reducing their temptation. The soldiers' new commander is keeping a closer eye on them, the girls said. "They want to come to us but their chief is watching them," Judith said.

Judith and Saidati said they wanted the soldiers to remain in Bunia for many years. The girls said the United Nations troops had succeeded in stabilizing the town, which was a war zone just over a year ago. The foreigners also have much more money to spend than local boys, the girls said.

"I like them," said Judith, smiling coyly.

"They treat us so nice," added Saidati, who was beaming.

But the two younger girls, Helen and Solange, were far more sober when they spoke of the foreign troops. They said they stopped selling fruit at the military camp immediately after they were attacked and had never been back. They said they had trouble sleeping at night and could not forget what the soldiers did to them.

"Whenever I see one of them, I remember what happened," said Helen, who lives near a military checkpoint operated by soldiers wearing blue helmets just like the one she remembers seeing in the tent. "I'm afraid of them."

-Rudey

That is absoultely disgusting and horrible.

I agree. The perpetrators should be tried and convicted in the Hague for human right violations.

Sure.

But the prostitution aspect is kind of normal for occupying same sexed troops.

Raping children is rather rare, I would imagine the bulk of the "incidents" involve prosititution.

Is it any surprise that this stuff happens? Corruption in the UN is pretty fucking prevelant I'd say.

Yes, it's suprising. Not suprising when it come to the military portion of the operation, however it is suprising that civilian UN official are involved.

Yes - how horrible is it that these little girls think that the men are there to finally help them, after all they've been through, only to be traumautized by these assholes?

It's unfortunate yes... but more unfortunate that it is to be expected...

Despite the nobility of many the UN's actions and people, there is always that small minority out there to exploit. It is the flaw within many orginizations that a small, sick element can tarnish the image of the whole (something that we as greeks should be more than aware of).

Now for as this being a problem wholely of the UN and it's personnel :rolleyes: hardly. As we have seen (and not seen) in the news over the years, soldiers and administrators of many nationalities have commited horrible acts while their comrades are performing honourably... and no country's forces are immune to it - lest we forget the torture and death of a Somali teen by Canadians; the targeted assassination of sympathizers to the IRA by British Paratroops; the Israeli commander who emptied a magazine into an innocent girl;
the torture and execution of captured Hutu by the Foreign Legion; or even the recent sex-killing of an Iraqi by an American soldier....
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...52.htm&sc=1110

You're comparing isolated incidents to what sounds like a systemic problem, and that just illustrates that this UN scandal is on a whole different level.

Look using the same litmus test of whether something is "systemic" would actually condemn the US forces more right now (though in this case the troops involved are subject to prosecution under the ICC)... point is, and what I was trying to make, is this:

"Don't condemn an orginization whose goals and methods are noble in origin, because of the actions of evil men"

A thought that most greeks when exposed to bad press should be familiar with - a bad apple can spoil even the best basket.


The problem with this thread - and most of the people that have it in for the UN in the past - is that the majority of critics are either "Republicans" or anti-globilization folks; people more than willing to critique the actions of the opposition without realizing the flaws of their own...

I'm afraid things are not getting better in the Congo. There is renewed fighting in the East because of Rwandan involvement. Many analysts fear that the heighten tension in the East will have the potential to cause another war, thus making the proposed democratic election next year unattainable.

Actually, you're wrong on this point. You're elevating the scale and frequency (again) of crimes committed by American troops to try to establish equivalency, when there is none.
That's a highly specious argument. When GLOs' members behave wrongly, we admit to what was done, and admit to systemic problems. We also attempt to change to prevent any further reoccurrences.

The last time that I checked, Kofi Annan has yet to admit to any systemic problems within the U.N. That means that he is either a complete and total moron, or that he is corrupt. I suspect the latter. The U.N. is also clearly corrupt. Until this is addressed, the U.N.'s goals are tainted, and their methods are anything but "noble." The U.S., at least, has assumed full responsibility for the criminal actions of a few of its soldiers.

The U.N. at this point doesn't resemble the solution. They resemble the problem. Since we're throwing around quotes as if they're facts or wisdom, remember this, "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions."
You're engaged in dialogue with me, and I'm neither a Republican, nor am I anti-globilization. I'm probably the most pro-gloablization person around. Its easy to be anti-U.N. and pro-globalization when the U.N. has half-century record of being incompetant, innefectual, and corrupt. The U.N. is not the vehicle that promotes globalization. Its merely a democratic confederacy where most of its members are not democratic, and that is the root of its uselessness.

I recognize the flaws of American actions. The U.N. remains silent on theirs, and thats worth plenty of critique.

Actually Russ, many in the UN realized that there is a lot of problem in the system. This is why Annan estalbish the committee to look into reforming the UN. You can read the report.

One of the problem I see is the unwillingness of many nations to actually move forward with the reform. One of the reform I would like to see if the establishment of a rapid deployment peacekeeping force. This rapid deployment peacekeeping force will be runned by the PKO office and should be outsource to PMC. They will be monitored by PKO official, which will report to the Security Council.

I'll read through it later today. I hope that it actually contains references to what is discussed in this thread. I would also like to see Kofi Annan speak up in a way that assumes responisbility by the U.N.

If you are talking about the Oil for Food, like I've said in the past, he is waiting for the Volker commision to finish their work. It will be done in the beginning of 2005. All the finding, documents, etc of the commission will be released to the public. it is my hope that none of the report will be hidden to the public. Seeing that he is waiting for the final result of the commission, it is only appropriate to wait until the finding is released before he says one thing.

When I wrote, "I hope that it actually contains references to what is discussed in this thread," I meant just that; the thread's title of "UN Peacekeepers Rape Congolese."

ah, ok. This committee was formed before the raping incident. Maybe a better selection on which countries could engaged in peacekeeping operation is in order.

OK. I'm very interested to see how the U.N. will respond.

how terribly sad...

Most likely the same way they have responded in the past to other incidents of crimes committed by UN troops and administrative staff - with legal charges.... of course now anyone serving with the UN has to sign a legal document recognizing that they can be charged and proscecuted by the ICC. While that's great in theory, the reality is that the UN still relies on nation of origin to take legal action against transgressors... so as you can guess the legal response is somewhat spotty.


I do agree with moe.ron about the latest proposal for reforming the make-up of the UN - this is probibly the best chance for eliminating some of the systemic problems within the say the Security Council system....

The title of the thread and the article is mislading becaue it lads us to believe that all the "sexual abuse" is rape when they are lumping the paying of prostitutes in there.

I would think most of us agree that there is a big difference between raping a pre-pubescent and paying for a hooker.

So has the UN lost its moral ground?

The UN's role here was to play peacekeeper. It was not there to fight or to guard prisoners, but to be a peace keeper.

So what countries where these soldiers from?

I believe some Canadian soldiers really did a job by brutalizing an African man.

-Rudey

Yes Rudey... I believe I did mention that earlier in a post...

As for the countries involved as of this date, with troops currently or formerly deployed as peacekeepers in Congo:
Algeria
Bangladesh
Belgium
Benin
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Canada
China
Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
France
Ghana
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Jordan
Kenya
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Nepal
Niger
Nigeria
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Poland
Romania
Russian Federation
Senegal
Serbia and Montenegro
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Tunisia
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Zambia

No I mean with this specific incident. The people that did this deserve to be punished. I don't think it's something that every country and every person in the UN deserves blame for.

-Rudey

Unfortunately the UN doesn't release that info... usually it's broken by news media... however if the past is anything to go by it could be any of the countries on the list...

For example in Somalia the biggest offender with charges of rape, murder, assault, etc. was Belgium; followed by Italy; then Canada; then Pakistan - no other countries released any specifics involving their personnel and any criminal charges.

Well
 

Welcome to the horrors of war. Stuff like this has been happening to women since the dawn of time. Not saying that it's right but I sometimes wonder do we even think about this when we decide that we're going to go to war?


Be careful when you talk about unleashing the dogs of war.

Re: Well
 

Uhm, the perpetrators are all peacekeeping personals. They were not there to engaged in warfare, instead, they were there to monitor the peace agreement between the DRC government and rebels. The mission is a humanatarian mission.

Re: Well
 

But that's just it. The UN didn't go to fight people in the Congo, it went there to wear blue helmets and acts as peace keepers.

-Rudey

True
 

What you two said is very true. I wouldn't argue that one in no shape form or fashion.

But my point was that war gives the oppourtunity for corruption. These men could've had Blue Helmets or flying the Stars or Stripe, the Union Jack, the Maple Leaf, or the Russian Flag. War brings out the worse even in the people who are there to keep the peace.

Re: True
 

It's no excuse, especially the civilian personal in the peacekeeping operation. They were there to protect and monitor, not to rape and pillage. Nations usually send their elite forces, or those who were trained in peacekeeping into these kind of operations. In another word, the soldiers were not you usual GI. The civilian personals should know better, they were UN officials and should be highly educated. As I said, this is not a war time situation, it is a humanatirian situation and the people should be more professional. Unfortunately, this is not the case and I hope they are prosecuted and send away for a very long time.

Re: Re: True
 

<hijack>

Sweet I'm elite!

You all saw it moe.ron called me elite :)

<end hijack>

Re: Re: True
 

Not excusing their behavior.

Re: Re: Re: True
 

You miss the or part of the sentence. ;)

Re: Re: Re: Re: True
 

Never.... I just assumed you where thinking the best of a fellow greek :p

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/19/in...19nations.html

October 19, 2005
Report Finds U.N. Isn't Moving to End Sex Abuse by Peacekeepers
By WARREN HOGE
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 18 - The United Nations has developed procedures to curb sexual abuse by peacekeepers, but the measures are not being put into force because of a deep-seated culture of tolerating sexual exploitation, an independent review reported Tuesday.

"A 'boys will be boys' attitude in peacekeeping missions breeds tolerance for exploiting and abusing local women," said the report, by Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group. "This attitude is slowly changing, but the U.N. must go beyond strong rhetoric and ensure that the resources needed to change this culture are available."

The 32-page document provided an update on an attention-getting report in March by Prince Zeid Raad al-Hussein, Jordan's ambassador to the United Nations. His report was prompted by evidence that peacekeepers and civilian staff members had had sex with women and girls in Congo in exchange for food and money, and in some cases had committed rape.

Prince Zeid, a former military officer and civilian peacekeeper in Bosnia, said in a briefing on Tuesday that even though his report had addressed a situation that undermined the credibility of the United Nations, influential member states greeted it with "utter silence."

"The entire responsibility for this mess is with the member states," he said, adding that meetings he had scheduled after his report was published were only sparsely attended.

Sarah Martin, the author of the new report, said she had visited peacekeeping missions in Haiti and Liberia and had found that a "wall of silence" kept sexual abuse cases from being investigated. Rapes were often belittled as simple acts of prostitution. "They'd say, 'Why should we ruin someone's otherwise illustrious career over an act with a prostitute,' " she said in the briefing.

She said Liberians had complained to her about some peacekeepers' conduct with the comment, "This behavior would not be accepted in the home country of these soldiers; why are these soldiers playing around with our children?"

Ms. Martin said guidelines adopted at headquarters were not being taken seriously in the field, adding: "Until there is a better understanding of the zero-contact rule, peacekeepers will continue to think of it as a rule that makes no sense. Fear of punishment is not enough to ensure compliance."

Among the changes called for were empowering local women, conducting public information campaigns to combat the "masculine culture that has developed," giving more importance to the so-called gender advisers who are now required on missions, giving victims access to the United Nations complaint system and guaranteeing that complainants are protected.

As of September, only 10 of the 17 peacekeeping missions had a fulltime gender advisory position, the report said. According to United Nations figures, the 17 missions involve 80,000 people.

Anna Shotton of the United Nations peacekeeping department said that while "tremendous progress has been made over the past year to drive home the U.N.'s message of zero tolerance and zero impunity," the message had still not taken hold.

She said that over the past 20 months, investigations had been completed on 221 accused peacekeepers, resulting in the firing of 10 civilian employees and the repatriation of 88 military men, including 6 commanders.

Asked how that compared with previous periods, she said, "You had the occasional repatriation of uniformed personnel, but it was very rare."

-Rudey