"Peacekeepers" from the Global Organization Responsible for Stopping AIDS are not being tested for AIDS and Are Raping Children HEADLINE: UN PROBING CHARGES OF SEX ABUSE IN DR OF CONGO, PEACEKEEPING OFFICIAL SAYS U.N. Boss Kofi Annan admits, "I'm afraid there is clear evidence that acts of grave misconduct have taken place. This is a shameful thing for the United Nations to have to say, and I am absolutely outraged by it." FOR MORE ON THIS SCANDAL, CLICK ON http://www.usasurvival.org/un-on-move.html The Washington Post reports: "In the case of Congo, the accusations seem as bad as anything the United Nations has ever seen. Women and children have reportedly been raped, and there is said to be video and photographic evidence of crimes." Meanwhile, top U.N. officials have themselves been accused of sexual harassment. They are Dileep Nair, the head of the UN's internal oversight office, "who had been targeted with allegations of harassment and favoritism," and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, who "was cleared by [U.N. Boss Kofi] Annan in July after a female member of his staff complained that he had sexually harassed her…" OFFICIAL RELEASE FROM THE UN: New York, Nov 23 2004 2:00PM The United Nations has dispatched two teams to investigate 150 charges of sexual exploitation and abuse by civilian and military personnel serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a senior UN official. The allegations include criminal activity, paedophilia, rape and solicitation of prostitution, said Jane Holl Lute, an Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), at a briefing Monday… "We recognize that sexual exploitation and abuse is a problem in some missions and we're working for a systematic and coordinated approach to strengthen the measures we have in place," she said. "It's obvious that the measures we have had in place have not been adequate to deal with the changing circumstances found in some missions." Last Friday, Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement voicing his outrage at the accusations and pledging to stamp out such behaviour. "I am afraid there is clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken place. This is a shameful thing for the United Nations to have to say, and I am absolutely outraged by it," he said. Referring to the UN Organization Mission in the DRC, he added: "We cannot rest until we have rooted out all such practices from any other peacekeeping operation, and indeed anywhere in the Organization that they might occur. And we must make sure that those involved are held fully accountable." MONUC, which was set up in 1999, comprises nearly 1,000 international civilian staff and 11,000 uniformed military and police personnel contributed by over 50 countries. Ms. Lute told journalists that a number of the allegations were specific to Bunia, located in the northeastern DRC, and that the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) would be issuing a report on its investigation soon. While that was going on, she added, rapid response investigative teams made up of military, police and civilian experts would address the other allegations throughout the Mission. In addition to that, the Department of Management, the Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) and DPKO had organized a team, which arrived Monday in the DRC, to investigate cases involving civilians, Ms. Lute said. If those investigations confirmed the basis of the allegations, additional procedures would be taken consistent with staff rules and instructions. She said DPKO was doing everything it could on a systematic basis to respond aggressively to the problem. "We are shining a light on this problem in order to determine the scope that it represents, and we will not stop there," she stressed. In July the Secretary-General appointed Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein, the Permanent Representative of Jordan, as an adviser on the question of sexual exploitation. He has already visited the DRC to get a first-hand understanding of the nature of the problem, and spoken to a number of Member States about addressing system-wide approaches to deal with the issue. 2004-11-23 00:00:00.000              Printer-friendly version Click here to be added to our mailing list.