Kate Holt in Juba and Sarah Hughes
London
Telegraph
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
The UN said today that it would launch an investigation after
the Daily Telegraph reported allegations that UN personnel have
abused children in southern Sudan.
Members of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern
Sudan are facing allegations of raping and abusing children as
young as 12, The Daily Telegraph reported today.
The abuse allegedly began two years ago when the UN mission in
southern Sudan (UNMIS) moved in to help rebuild the region after
a 23-year civil war. The UN has up to 10,000 military personnel
in the region, of all nationalities and the allegations involve
peacekeepers, military police and civilian staff.
The first indications of possible sexual exploitation emerged
within months of the UN force’s arrival and The Daily Telegraph
has seen a draft of an internal report compiled by the UN children’s
agency Unicef in July 2005 referring to the problem.
This paper has learnt of more than 20 victims’ accounts
claiming that some peacekeeping and civilian staff based in the
town are regularly picking up young children in their UN vehicles
and forcing them to have sex. It is thought that hundreds of children
may have been abused.
advertisement"I was sitting by the river the first time
it happened,” said Jonas, 14, one of more than 20 children
who claimed they had been abused this way.
"A man in a white car drove past and asked me if I wanted
to get into the car with him. I saw that the car was a UN car
because it was white with the black letters on it. The man had
a badge on his clothes. When he stopped the car, we got out, he
put a blindfold on me and started to abuse me. It was painful
and went on for a long time. When it was over we went back to
the place we had been, and he pushed me out of the car and left."
Jonas now returns to the same place regularly in the hope of
being picked up and paid something for his services. "I know
it is a terrible thing to do but I see the UN cars around late
at night by the drinking places and I sit there in the hope of
being picked up. If I get 1000 SD ($3) a day then that is a good
day."
The allegations came just as the new UN Secretary General, Ban
Ki-moon, took over saying he will make Darfur, the north-west
of Sudan, a priority. The UN is pushing to be allowed to launch
a new peacekeeping mission there to help end the humanitarian
crisis that has spiralled in recent years.
The Telegraph understands that the Sudanese government, which
is deeply opposed to the deployment of UN troops to Darfur, has
also gathered evidence, including video footage of Bangladeshi
UN workers allegedly having sex with three young girls.
Responding to the report, Jane Holl Lute, the UN assistant secretary-general
for peacekeeping, said: "There could be truth. These environments
are ones in which it is difficult to ascertain the truth.
"I do not believe these are new allegations. Nevertheless,
we will treat them as seriously as we treat all other allegations,"
she told the Associated Press in New York.
She said she had spoken to the force commander and chief of staff
in the UN mission in southern Sudan "and I know they are
very well briefed on what UN policy is and have taken steps to
implement that policy across the board in that mission."
"But we don’t have the facts yet in this case, and
we need to ascertain the facts and follow it through to appropriate
resolution and take action if necessary.
"We won’t be complacement and there will be no impunity
to the full extent of the UN’s authority.”
When contacted by this paper prior to publishing the allegations,
the UN’s headquarters refused to comment.
Many of the children who claim to have had sex with UN personnel
in Juba belong to southern Sudan's "lost generation",
separated from their families by the recent civil war, who now
sleep rough on the streets of Juba, the regional capital.
This paper has gathered more than 20 victims' accounts claiming
that peacekeeping and civilian staff based in the town are regularly
picking up young children in their UN vehicles and forcing them
to have sex.
It is thought that hundreds of children may have been abused.
''I was sitting by the river the first time it happened,"
said Jonas, 14, one of more than 20 children who told the Telegraph
they had been abused this way.
"A man in a white car drove past and asked me if I wanted
to get into the car with him. I saw that the car was a UN car
because it was white with the black letters on it. The man had
a badge on his clothes. When he stopped the car, we got out, he
put a blindfold on me and started to abuse me. It was painful
and went on for a long time. When it was over we went back to
the place we had been, and he pushed me out of the car and left."
Jonas now returns to the same place regularly in the hope of
being picked up and paid something for his services.
"I know it is a terrible thing to do but I see the UN cars
around late at night by the drinking places and I sit there in
the hope of being picked up. If I get 1000 SD ($3) a day then
that is a good day."
The other children interviewed describe the same scenario. One
boy, 13 years old, reported being enticed into a UN car with the
offer of cash and then abused before being dumped without any
payment. Similar verbal testimonies have been gathered by non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and rights groups in the region. But there
are no medical reports confirming that the children have been
abused. The limited local medical services and the children's
poverty and fear are thought to explain why doctors have not been
involved.
The British regional co-ordinator for UNMIS, James Ellery, has
refuted the claims, arguing that there is no substantiating evidence.
"I will refute all claims made on this issue," he said
in an interview last May. "We investigated all allegations
made and no evidence was forthcoming. None of these claims can
be substantiated. This is the most backward country in Africa
and there are lots of misunderstandings as to the UN's role. Over
90 per cent of people here are illiterate and rumours therefore
spread very quickly."
Mr Ellery insisted that his organisation was following correct
codes of conduct.
"We provide regular briefings on the UN code of conduct.
Nobody employed by the UN is meant to have sexual contact at all
with any local person," he said. He did, however, appear
to acknowledge that the organisation might not be able to ensure
that all its staff behave according to standards.
"We are applying a standard of morality that is very, very
high but we cannot expect that soldiers when they go abroad are
going to behave themselves as we think they should.
"There are a wide range of countries being represented in
the UN forces and among these there is always going to be a bad
apple."
The Daily Telegraph has learned that a number of complaints have
been made about the behaviour of some UN personnel stationed in
Juba. Yet those accused have not been tracked down nor has there
been any attempt by the UN or local officials to interview those
making the accusations.
The fledging government of southern Sudan is believed to be too
concerned to maintain good relations with the UN to challenge
the organisation. An unfinished copy of the internal Unicef report,
seen by The Daily Telegraph, shows that the UN has been aware
of the problem for more than a year.
"Evidence suggests that UNMIS staff may already be involved
in sexual exploitation," the report says. "UN cars have
been staying into the early hours of the morning, as late as 6am,
at a restaurant/disco called Kololo in Juba … adult informants
reported seeing a UNMIS car stop along a main road in Juba to
pick up three young girls."
A preliminary report for a leading NGO in the region backed up
these allegations, although the NGO was unwilling to be named
for political reasons.
The report stated: "According to Kennedy Tombe, 23, a shoe
shiner in Kony Konyo Market, the issue of young girls being picked
up by UNMIS cars during late hours in Juba is common. One time,
he stated, he was chatting with friends of his own in Kosti area
near Konyo Konyo Market – they saw a UNMIS vehicle drop
three girls off.
"One girl, Jackline Keji, was 18, the other two were 13
and 16. Keji, who was obviously frightened, said that they had
spent the night with an UNMIS official. She said that they had
sex with that UNMIS official."
The other children interviewed describe the same scenario. One
boy, 13 years old, reported being enticed into a UN car with the
offer of cash and then abused before being dumped without any
payment. Similar verbal testimonies have been gathered by non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and rights groups in the region. But there
are no medical reports confirming the children have been abused.
The limited local medical services and the children's poverty
and fear are thought to explain why doctors have not been involved.
Juba's county court judge, Ali Said, said that the region had
seen an increase in child prostitution since the UN arrived.
''The majority of people working for the UN and NGOs are men
and need to be entertained. But no cases have come to court,"
he said.
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