Sexual violence is one of the most horrific crimes, especially committed during armed conflicts and it becomes more deplorable when the victims are children.
The UN estimates that nearly 30 million children have been or
will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. The phenomenon is widespread all over the world and the main perpetrators of such terrible crimes may be armed groups, governmental armed forces but also civilians.
Children may become sexual slaves, the ‘property’ of
one or more fighters, to whom they provide sexual
services, or act as ‘wives’ to individual fighters.
The consequences of sexual violence on children are catastrophic – physically, psychologically and socially but let the victims speak...
This is just one of the many testimonies of unspeakable abuses suffered by children in conflict-affected contexts.
"No one should have to
endure the pain and humiliation of rape and sexual
exploitation and violence."
We cannot turn our backs on this brutality because one day those kids could be ours.
"THE DARK SIDE OF U.N. PEACEKEEPERS"
When we speak about sexual exploitation and abuse against children in armed conflicts, it is essential to mention the shocking scandal which has involved the United Nations personnel, revealing the "dark side" of the Peacekeeping Operations.
Reports of such crimes, committed by those who should guarantee the protection of the most vulnerables in hard contexts, date back at least to the 1990s. Nevertheless, the U.N. has paid lip service to stopping such diplorable violence, showing the failure of the international community to hold perpetrators to account.
After repeated outcries, the United Nations adopted a "zero tolerance" policy in 2005 as an effort to strenghten accountability and transparency. Moreover, the Secretary General claims to intensify the investigations but the abuses continue so the attempts to cover the perpetrators up.
A radical political and cultural change is needed in order to stop this disgrace!
Releated links:
TheGuardian
The Whistleblower : a movie which describes very clearly the above-mentioned scandal, involving U.N. Peacekeepers.
A cruel but very realistic representation of what is hidden behind the "perfect" facade of the United Nations.
although many people may find this subject shocking and scandalous i believe it is highly worth contribution, this is reality in the world and we can not turn our backs on it. notwithstanding the fact that there are lots and lots of documentation of these unspeakable acts i believe that also should be mention the initiatives and programmes launched to help and solve this issue, involving not only governments and international organizations but more from the civil society, engage families and communities.
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