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WORLD NEWS Thursday 13 april 2017

AP Investigation: UN troops lured kids into Haiti sex ring

PAISLEY DODDS ingly familiar ring: More of sexual exploitation and peacekeeping mission was It was there that the girl
Associated Press than a decade ago, the abuse by U.N. personnel, coming near my home in identified as Victim No.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) United Nations commis- be it uniformed or civilian, Chattanooga,” he told AP, 1, or V01, met other chil-
— The Haitian girl known sioned a report that prom- is appalling,” Under-Secre- “I’d be on the first plane dren in the same straits:
Victim No. 1 was 12 when two young girls referred to
she first had sex with a Sri in the U.N. report as “V02”
Lankan peacekeeper. She and “V03,” and a young
says she didn’t even have boy, “V08.” The boy initially
breasts yet. supported them by occa-
The boy, known as Vic- sionally bringing food from
tim No. 9, was 15 when his his aunt, but they were of-
ordeal began. Over the ten hungry.
course of three years, he The peacekeepers had ar-
said he had sex with more rived that year as part of a
than 100 Sri Lankan peace- new mission to help stabi-
keepers, averaging about lize the country in the wake
four a day. of President Jean-Bertrand
From 2004 to 2007, nine Aristide’s ouster. Some of
Haitian children were ex- the peacekeepers in the
ploited by a child sex ring Sri Lankan contingent were
involving at least 134 Sri based nearby.
Lankan peacekeepers, In August 2007, the U.N. re-
according to a U.N. report ceived complaints of “sus-
obtained by The Associ- picious interactions” be-
ated Press. tween Sri Lankan soldiers
Often the children were and Haitian children.
given cookies or a few dol- V02, who was 16 when the
lars in exchange for sex. Al- In this Aug. 11, 2016 photo, Lovely Harasme 26, sits in front of her mother’s house in Port-au-Prince, U.N. team interviewed her,
though 114 of the peace- Haiti. She says she was one of several women who worked as prostitutes for Sri Lankan peace- told them she had sex with
keepers were sent home, keepers with the U.N. a Sri Lankan commander
none was ever jailed for (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) at least three times, de-
the abuse. ised to do much the same tary-General for Field Sup- out of here to go back and scribing him as overweight
Justice for victims is rare. An thing, yet most of the re- port Atul Khare said. “Ev- protect my family.” with a moustache and a
Associated Press investiga- forms never materialized. eryone, especially us, are The Haitian children had gold ring. She said he often
tion of U.N. missions during For a full two years after aware of the shortcomings made a home for them- showed her a picture of his
the past 12 years found an those promises were made, in the system. We believe selves at Habitation wife.
estimated 2,000 allegations the children in Haiti were we are advancing in the Leclerc, a resort was once V03 identified 11 Sri Lank-
of sexual abuse and exploi- passed around from soldier right direction, especially well-known throughout an troops through photo-
tation by peacekeepers to soldier. And in the years with the secretary-gener- Port-au-Prince as a lush graphs, one of whom she
and U.N. personnel around since, peacekeepers have al’s new approach. refuge amid the capital’s said was a corporal with a
the world — signaling the been accused of sexual U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, who grimy alleyways. During its “distinctive” bullet scar be-
crisis is much larger than abuse the world over. chairs the Senate Foreign heyday in the 1980s, ce- tween his armpit and waist.
previously known. More In response to the AP’s in- Relations Committee, has lebrities like Mick Jagger V04, who was 14, said she
than 300 of the allegations vestigation, the head of the been calling for reforms in and Jackie Onassis would had sex with the soldiers
involved children, the AP U.N. office that oversees the United Nations for more perch by the pool or stroll every day in exchange for
found, but only a fraction the conduct of peace- than a year. He may well past the property’s Voo- money, cookies or juice.
of the alleged perpetrators keepers said Wednesday get them under President doo temple. The boy, V08, said he had
were jailed. that progress was being Donald Trump, whose ad- By 2004, the resort was a sex with more than 20 Sri
In March, U.N. Secretary- made with member states ministration has proposed decrepit clutch of build- Lankans. Most would re-
General Antonio Guterres to hold perpetrators ac- a 31 percent reduction to ings and several children, move their name tags be-
announced new measures countable and to get vic- the U.S. foreign aid and di- either orphaned or aban- fore taking him to trucks,
to tackle peacekeeper tims help. plomacy budget. doned by their parents, where he gave them oral
misconduct. But the proc- “Every single allegation “If I heard that a U.N. were living in its ruins. sex or was sodomized by
lamation had a depress- them.q