This is not the first
report of this kind of behavior and certainly will not be the last.
the neighborhood is a patchwork of low-slung buildings scorched and looted at the height of the civil war, a place where the United Nations was supposed to come to the rescue. But in a number of homes, women and girls are raising babies they say are the children of U.N. troops who abused or exploited them.
“Peacekeeper babies,” the United Nations calls such infants.
“A horrible thing,” says an elfin 14-year-old girl, who describes how a Burundian soldier dragged her into his barracks and raped her, leaving her pregnant with the baby boy she now cradles uncomfortably.
Wanted to comment on this:
The Washington Post interviewed seven women and girls who described contact with peacekeepers that violated U.N. regulations against sexual exploitation and abuse. Five of them said they exchanged sex for food or money — sometimes as little as $4 — while their country was rocked by civil war and families were going hungry.
We might think that $4 is "little" but in those countries 4 US dollars is a big deal. For example, as of this writing $4 is 3712.00 Congolese Francs, 2401.34 CA CFA Francs, 246.17 Haitian Gourds and 485.68 Jamaican Dollars.
