UN to respond Monday to Sudan’s memo on sexual abuse
Jan 7, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The United Nations mission in Sudan (UNMIS) will give tomorrow to the Sudanese government its reply on the sexual misconduct committed by UN staff in southern Sudan, the official SUNA reported.
The Director of the Peace Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and coordinator of the national mechanism for cooperation with the United Nations in Sudan, Ambassador Sadeq al-Magli, said that the mechanism discussed Sunday the content of the Sudanese government memo which was delivered to the United Nations.
The Sudanese ministry of foreign affairs addressed Saturday a memo to the UNMIS included Sudan government’s extreme concern with regard to the inhumane crimes committed by a number of UN employees against minors in south Sudan.
Since Wednesday 3 January, the United Nations announced it was investigating 13 cases of serious misconduct including sexual abuse and exploitation in south Sudan.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper said on Tuesday 3 January that U.N. peacekeepers and civilian staff were raping and abusing children as young as 12 in southern Sudan. The paper said it had interviewed 20 young victims in the south Sudan capital Juba.
Al-Magli said that Sudan had called for immediate response concerning these accusations, besides outcome of the investigation on this issue that was conducted in accordance with directives of the UN Secretary General.
He said that the Foreign Ministry’s memo also included the government’s protest over the concealing of information throughout the past period, especially that UN officials in New York and Vienna affirmed in press statements that investigations are being conducted in these crimes since May, 2005.
The first indications of sexual exploitation emerged within months of the UN force’s arrival. The Daily Telegraph said has seen a draft of an internal report compiled by the UN children’s agency Unicef in July 2005 detailing the problem.
The Sudanese official referred to UN declared that the new UN Secretary General has expressed his concern on crimes perpetrated by UN employees in south Sudan, and explained that the international organization is dealing with this issue seriously.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon soundly denounced on Wednesday the practice while pointing out that the world body’s own investigations have already resulted in the dismissal of four blue helmets there.
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 problem of sexual abuse and exploitation by blue helmets surfaced in 2004, when a UN report found that a “shockingly large number” of peacekeepers had engaged in such practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with payments for sex sometimes ranging from two eggs to $5 per encounter. The victims included many abandoned orphans who were often illiterate.
(ST)