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| International-UN-NGOs |
| Moroccan troops accused of abuse |
| 2007-07-25 |
| The United Nations is investigating allegations of widespread sexual abuse by hundreds of Moroccan peacekeepers serving in Ivory Coast and has summoned Rabat's diplomats to respond, U.N. officials said on Friday. U.N. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation involved Moroccan soldiers having sex with a large number of underage girls. The UN said a unit of its entire battalion of 800 troops in Bouake, a northern rebel stronghold, had been confined to base. "An internal investigation by the United Nations Mission in Cote D'Ivoire has revealed serious allegations of widespread sexual exploitation and abuse by a U.N. military contingent serving in Bouake," a U.N. statement said. Claims of sexual abuse have been made against UN troops on various missions, prompting ex-UN chief Kofi Annan to declare a "zero tolerance" policy. "There have been crimes such as rape, pedophilia and human trafficking," he said in December 2006, shortly before leaving office. He said sexual exploitation and abuse were "utterly immoral" and at odds with the UN mission, and would be punished. Sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeeping personnel hit the headlines in 2004 after a UN report detailed widespread abuse in the DR Congo involving UN troops. More than 300 members of UN peacekeeping missions around the world have been investigated for sexual exploitation and abuse since 2004, including some stationed in Congo, Cambodia and Haiti. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Isn't that sort of thing punishable by death under sharia law? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-07-25 08:32 |