March 25, 2005
Times
From James Bone in New York
TROOPS suspected of fathering “peacekeeper babies” should be forced to undergo paternity tests and pay child support as part of a series of measures to control sexual abuse and “aberrant behaviour”, the UN recommended yesterday.
The UN report, proposing steps to crackdown on sexual misconduct, follows outrage over dozens of complaints about UN personnel in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which have led to the suspension of six UN civilian staff, the repatriation of sixty-six peacekeepers, and the prosecution in France of a French logistics expert allegedly caught with a 12-year-old girl.
An international organisation examining the sex trade in Congo reported last year that at least 82 women and girls had been made pregnant by Moroccan peacekeepers and 59 more by Uruguayan soldiers on UN duty there. An investigation by The Times found that at least two UN officials had to leave the country after getting local women pregnant.
Sexual exploitation has also plagued a number of UN missions. The UN has 66,918 peacekeepers and 4,143 civilian staff serving in 16 missions around the world.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1540533,00.html