Your support
means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you
access to exclusive bonus material on
our Patreon page. Click
here to become a patron. MRL
on Patreon
UN
Discloses 4 Cases of
Sexual Exploitation, 1 Child Rape,
Qs UNanswered on Sri
Lanka, S Sudan,
Blue on Blue
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
UNITED
NATIONS, March 19 --
Four
UN cases of
sexual
exploitation
and one of
child rape
have just been
disclosed on
the UN's
website, all
in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo, the
accused all
from South
African, all
cases
"pending."
This is the
UN's
disclosure,
once a month,
while they
spin. Amid
the UN's decade long
claim of “zero
tolerance” for
sexual abuse and
exploitation, on
March 13 a press
conference was
announced with
decade long, now
part-time, UN
official Jane Holl
Lute. Inner City
Press asked her why
the UN Peacekeeping
mission UNMISS has
denied South
Sudan's
request for a role
in investigating
alleged sexual abuse
of South Sudanese
IDPs in Wau by UN
Police from Ghana.
Video here.
Back in late
January UN international
staff member in Mali was
disclosed to have been accused
of rape, and an Ethiopian
peacekeeper with the UN
Mission in Liberia was accused
of sexual exploitation. While
the alleged rapist - the UN
has not disclosed his
nationality - has been put on
leave, the sexual exploitation
change is listed only as
"pending." Photo here.
UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres says he has a "zero
tolerance" policy for sexual
harassment - this as he held
an UNdisclosed (until Inner
City Press asked),
and many say UNjustifiable,
meeting with Sudan's Omar al
Bashir indicted for crimes by
his forces in Darfur.
Guterres chief of "Global
Communications" Alison
Smale argued that all UN
staff including victims should
"speak with one voice" which
several staff told Inner City
Press they took to mean, Don't
make the UN look bad.
On
March
13, Inner
City Press also
asked how
soldiers for example
from Sri Lanka are
vetted by the UN,
given a showing that
the four past
commanders sent from
Colombo to UNIFIL
had troubling war
records. Related
story here.
She
referred the UNMISS
question to her
Conduct and
Discipline Unit
colleague, who said
joint investigations
should be possible
under the model
Status of Forces
Agreement (certainly
news to Juba).
The
second question on
vetting wasn't
answered at all.
There was a third
question, which
Inner City Press
also put to
Secretary General
Antonio Guterres'
spokesman Stephane
Dujarric: how did
the UN investigate
the complaint by the
Bishop of Bangassou
in the Central
African Republic
that IDPs there were
sexually exploited
by UN “peacekeepers”
and some became
pregnant?
Dujarric
cited OIOS, the same
UN Office of
Internal Oversight
Services in which
the South Sudanese
government said it
has no confidence.
Dujarric added that
Guterres met the
Bishop during what
Inner City Press
dubbed, from a DPI
Town Hall meeting,
his “litmus
test” visit to
CAR.
In the
March 13 press
conference Inner
City Press asked if
Jane Holl Lute's
office (report here)
has jurisdiction
over alleged abuse
or exploitation by
UN officials against
UN staff or
contractors, as is
alleged at UNFPA
in India. Getting no
answer, Inner City
Press tried to
explain: blue on
blue SEA.
Jane
Holl Lute said she
doens't like - or
has zero tolerance
for - the term “blue
on blue.” But what
about the UNFPA
case? Or one was are
looking into
regarding UNHCR in
Sri Lanka under
Guterres? Watch this
site.
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
Past
(and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047,
Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2018 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for