About That Mess

Ban Ki-Moon, newly minted Secretary General of the United Nations has his work cut out for him. It is starting already, the Telegraph reports. UN peacekeepers in Sudan are being accused – not for the first time – of sexually exploiting civilians, including children of both sexes as young as 12 years of age. And the Telegraph reports that they have seen a draft UN report that says the charges are genuine.

The UN has up to 10,000 military personnel in the region, of all nationalities and the allegations involve peacekeepers, military police and civilian staff.

The first indications of sexual exploitation emerged within months of the UN force's arrival and The Daily Telegraph has seen a draft of an internal report compiled by the UN children's agency Unicef in July 2005 detailing the problem.

But the UN has not publicly acknowledged that there is a problem and when contacted repeatedly by this newspaper UN headquarters refused to comment.

The allegations will be deeply embarrassing to the new UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, as the UN is pushing to be allowed to launch a new peacekeeping mission to help end the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's north-western region, Darfur.

The Telegraph understands that the Sudanese government, which is deeply opposed to the deployment of UN troops to Darfur, has also gathered evidence, including video footage of Bangladeshi UN workers having sex with three young girls.

Many of the children who claim to have had sex with UN personnel in Juba belong to southern Sudan's "lost generation", separated from their families by the recent civil war, who now sleep rough on the streets of Juba, the regional capital.

This paper has gathered more than 20 victims' accounts claiming that peacekeeping and civilian staff based in the town are regularly picking up young children in their UN vehicles and forcing them to have sex.

It is thought that hundreds of children may have been abused.

The regional coordinator for UNMIS (he happens to be British, although that really isn't important) is vigorously denying all charges across the board. Some NGOs in the area confirm the abuse but do not want their names published. Which says something right there. But the UNICEF report is damning. Ban Ki-Moon has to get this mess straightened up right away. UN peacekeepers need to have a clean record if they are to remain credible. On the hopeful side, Captain Ed reports that Ban has also taken a stand on the execution of Saddam Hussein that is completely different than that of his predecessor.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said Tuesday that Iraq and other countries have the right to impose the death penalty, adding that the world should never forget Saddam Hussein's "heinous crimes."

Ban's first public reaction to Hussein's execution signaled a sharp break from his predecessor, Kofi Annan, an ardent death-penalty critic who opposed U.N. participation in the Iraqi war crimes tribunal that sentenced Hussein to die. Human rights advocates expressed concern that Ban's comments lend credibility to what they see as a flawed trial of the former Iraqi leader, and complained that he could set back efforts to abolish the death penalty.

The remarks suggest that the former South Korean foreign minister, who began a five- year term on Monday, would defer to the United Nations' 192 member states on some of the day's most controversial and unsettled issues. Nearly 70 countries, including the United States and South Korea, retain the death penalty.

"Saddam Hussein was responsible for committing heinous crimes and unspeakable atrocities against the Iraqi people," Ban said in his first news conference as secretary general. "The issue of capital punishment is for each and every member state to decide."

I'm no fan of the death penalty, but I am a proponent of national sovereignty over governance through the UN. This statement from Ban suggests that he has the same outlook, and it should serve as a reversal of thought among Turtle Bay power elites. For too long, the UN bureaucracy and leadership have taken for granted the notion that the UN represents some sort of supergovernment rather than a diplomatic venue, and Annan was among the worst at using his position to meddle in sovereign affairs of member states.

I agree with Ed, this is a very good start for Ban. Now if he can fix the problems with his peacekeepers, it will be really impressive.

UPDATE: The Telegraph is reporting that the UN has promised a full investigation into the matter. The assistant-secretary general for peacekeeping even allows that there may be some merit in the allegations:

Responding to the report, Jane Holl Lute, the UN assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, said: "There could be truth. These environments are ones in which it is difficult to ascertain the truth.

"I do not believe these are new allegations. Nevertheless, we will treat them as seriously as we treat all other allegations," she told the Associated Press in New York.

She said she had spoken to the force commander and chief of staff in the UN mission in southern Sudan "and I know they are very well briefed on what UN policy is and have taken steps to implement that policy across the board in that mission."

"But we don’t have the facts yet in this case, and we need to ascertain the facts and follow it through to appropriate resolution and take action if necessary.

"We won’t be complacement and there will be no impunity to the full extent of the UN’s authority.”

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  By K T Cat, January 3, 2007 @ 7:11 am

  Ban Ki-Moon?!? There’s an obnoxious ugly American joke in there somewhere.

  Darn furriners.

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  By Gaius, January 3, 2007 @ 7:13 am

  Heh. But he does appear to be off to a good start in at least this respect.

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  By PoliticalCritic, January 3, 2007 @ 9:31 am

  Ban Ki-Moon definitely has some work to do, but if he can get UN troops into Darfur, that’ll be a sifnificant first step. He can’t do any worse than Annan.

Other Links to this Post

1. Stop The ACLU — January 3, 2007 @ 9:22 am