UN troops accused of sexual exploitation in Haiti

United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in Port Salut, Haiti, have been accused of sexually exploiting local women and girls. Several families living in a poor neighbourhood adjacent to a Uruguayan UN base, reported that young girls, including 16- and 17-year-olds, enter the base late at night and have sex with the soldiers. Mario Joseph, a prominent Haitian lawyer, said that under Haitian law, an individual must be 18 years old to give sexual consent. A person found guilty of sex with a minor would be sentenced to roughly 10-15 years of forced labour.

But UN troops have immunity from the Haitian justice system and are supposed to be tried for any crimes in their home countries. A 2003 directive from the UN secretary-general to peacekeepers said: ‘Sexual relationships between United Nations staff and beneficiaries of assistance, since they are based on inherently unequal power dynamics, undermine the credibility and integrity of the work of the United Nations and are strongly discouraged.’Residents of Port Salut, when asked about the number of children in the city with Uruguayan fathers, gave estimates varying between five and more than 10. Five Uruguayan soldiers have reportedly been repatriated from Haiti after they allegedly raped an 18-year-old man. Uruguayan President Jose Mujica has sent a letter to the Haitian government apologising for the abuse and pledging reparations to the victim’s family.

The continued presence of sexual violence features rather peacekeeping missions in Africa, especially the AU troops. It seems that the UN does not want to be aware of this serious problem since 2003. Thus, these acts degrade significantly the credibility of UN troops, and it is not the first time the Uruguayan troops are involved ...

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