UN - Sex abuse continues

Reuters is reporting " Sexual abuse of girls by U.N. peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was widespread and ongoing despite many revelations and probes, the U.N. watchdog agency reported on Friday."

"In our view the problem was and continues to be widespread," Barbara Dixon of OIOS, who worked on the report, said at a news conference. "We ran into fairly substantial resistance from contingent commanders."

The watchdog team, one of several U.N. probes looking into the sexual abuse charges, investigated 72 allegations against both military and civilian U.N. personnel, which resulted in 20 case reports, one against a U.N. civilian employee.

They fully substantiated the abuses in seven cases, with young girls identifying soldiers from a line up.

And what happens to those accused?

Dixon indicated, however, that some of those expelled from peacekeeping missions, ended up in other U.N. jobs instead of being "permanently blacklisted."
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