The News
Friday 29 of March 2024

U.S. Says Countries Must Punish UN Troops for Sexual Abuse


In this file photo of a Brazilian blue helmet opens the gate of a UN base in the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti,photo: AP/Dieu Nalio
In this file photo of a Brazilian blue helmet opens the gate of a UN base in the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti,photo: AP/Dieu Nalio
Former U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon recommended that U.N. peacekeepers accused of sexual abuse and exploitation be court martialed

UNITED NATIONS – U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley is urging all countries that send troops to U.N. peacekeeping mission to hold soldiers accountable for sexual abuse and exploitation, an appeal that came after she cited an Associated Press investigation into a child sex ring in Haiti involving Sri Lankan peacekeepers.

Haley also warned that “countries that refuse to hold their soldiers accountable must recognize that this either stops or their troops will go home and their financial compensation will end.”

In this file photo, Janila Jean, 18, carries her daughter as she walks to a friend’s home in Jacmel, Haiti. Jean said she was a virgin at 16 when a Brazilian UN peacekeeper raped her at gunpoint and impregnated her. Photo: AP/Dieu Nalio Chery

Former U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon recommended that U.N. peacekeepers accused of sexual abuse and exploitation be court martialed in countries where the alleged incidents took place. He said the U.N. would withhold payments to peacekeepers facing credible allegations.

Haley spoke after the U.N. voted to end the peacekeeping mission in Haiti in mid-October.