Mike Pflanz; 28/5/08
Sexual abuse of children as young as six by aid workers and United Nations peacekeepers has continued unchecked despite repeated promises to stamp it out, according to a 12-month investigation published yesterday. The study by charity Save the Children UK said there were significant levels of abuse in emergencies, much of it unreported. Unless the silence ended, attempts to stamp out exploitation would “remain fundamentally flawed”. The UN is investigating claims against its soldiers in hotspots such as Haiti, Liberia, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo. But the report said official UN statistics appeared to underestimate the scale of abuse, probably because so much went unreported.