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27 January 2005: Programme Number 32

UN SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDAL IN THE DR CONGO

Reports are emerging of UN peacekeepers engaging in the sexual abuse and exploitation of girls and women. The UN's head of peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno says people's trust has been betrayed: "I feel a mix of outrage and anger. I feel angry too because it demoralizes the mission, it destroys the trust that the Congolese have in MONUC and the efforts of the United Nations, it is a big stain on us ."

The UN is taking measures like imposing curfews and keeping troops away from the locals, but DR Congo's envoy to the UN, Atoki Ileka, says more needs to be done for the victims?
"We should find a clear way for reparations for all of the victims, and 15,000 dollars? That's not the way to go. When a person is raped in New York City or in Europe there they're getting much more than that. It's not because people are black or African that they should get less … a human life is a human life whatever colour it is."

And the head of the UN mission in the DR Congo, William Swing, speaks about steps being taken to bring the offenders to book

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