South Sudan government probes sex abuse claim
Jan 4, 2006 (JUBA) — The government of Southern Sudan has joined the United Nations in launching an investigation into media reports of sexual abuse by international peacekeepers.
The investigations come in the wake of media reports on Tuesday which claimed that at least 20 children – some as young as 12 – had been forced to have sex with UN peacekeepers in the capital Juba.
Describing child sexual abuse as a terrible crime, the Southern Sudanese minister for presidential affairs, Luka Biong Deng, said in a statement: “If any persons are proved to have committed these terrible crimes, the government will take all possible steps to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.”
“We fought a long and bitter war to ensure that they [the children] have the right to live productive and happy lives, free from exploitation,” Deng added. “We will not tolerate their abuse at the very time when they should be enjoying the fruits of peace. Child abusers take note: southern Sudan is not a place where you will be allowed to operate.”
The UN had earlier begun its own investigations. A spokesman for the UN Mission in Sudan, George Somerwill, said: “We are cooperating very closely with the government of Southern Sudan and welcome an investigation by the government.”
Meanwhile, abuse expert, Jennifer Kiiti, has advised that empowering the community to monitor sexual abuse in southern Sudan is the key to combating this growing problem in the region.
She has warned of a possible backlash against international aid workers in the following the media reports of abuse. Kiiti, who set up training and reporting mechanisms for the UN agencies and NGOs in southern Sudan, said such allegations could upset the local community who could turn hostile towards the aid workers.
She believes that local communities should be trained to understand the problems of child sexual abuse and rape, and that encouraging people to monitor and report such events will discourage the perpetrators.
“If you upset the community they will react; they will not keep quiet,” Kiiti told IRIN. “In November I heard of a case where they publicly whipped somebody who had been accused of an inappropriate relationship with a member of the community; 200 lashes in public. I have no information on whether it was an international staff member, but they gave a traditional punishment which is a much more stringent and not as pleasant.”
Kiiti said it was impossible to monitor thousands of international and government employees in Juba. “That is why the community plays a very important role,” she explained. “We have to discuss with the community; train the community [and] empower them. Unless we do that, we don’t find out.”
Citing the example of Juba hospital where staff have been trained to treat rape victims, Kiiti said the community is not even aware of what services are available for victims.
“A lot of work has been done in southern Sudan on this particular issue, but as long as the management follow-up and the commitment -total zero tolerance – is not applied it creates a space [and] gives employees the belief that they can get away with it,” she added.
According to Kiiti, prostitution has gone up in Juba due the huge influx of foreign workers and the fact that the local community is impoverished.
Incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse have previously occurred within UN missions. According to figures released by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in August 2006, out of 313 investigations of civilian and military staff since January 2004, 202 were carried out in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the UN has its largest peacekeeping operation with about 17,000 personnel. Various actions were taken.
The DPKO established a conduct and discipline team in November 2005, following a report by Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Husein of Jordan, the Secretary-General’s advisor on addressing sexual exploitation and abuse of personnel in peacekeeping contexts.
Al-Husein was appointed in July 2004, following allegations of sexual exploitation of children by humanitarian workers and peacekeepers in various regions, including West Africa. Troop contributing countries have since been asked to develop codes of conduct, appropriate disciplinary measures and accountability mechanisms.
(IRIN)