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Kids in CAR forced to carry out sexual acts in exchange for food: UN report

Wednesday, 29 April 2015 8:43 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 29 April 2015 11:08 PM ]

French soldiers on patrol in Central African Republic's capital Bangui (AFP Photo)

French soldiers in the Central African Republic have been accused of sexually abusing refugee children and feeding them only in exchange for sex.

In order to receive food, the young refugee children had been forced to let the French troops, who were working as UN peacekeepers in the CAR, rape and sodomize them in the capital city Bangui in 2014, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

The alleged report, titled Sexual Abuse on Children by International Armed Forces, was leaked by advocacy group Aids Free World.

A nine-year-old male refugee describes in the report how the French troops at the IDP camp would force him and his friends to carry out sexual acts when they wanted food.

“The regular sex abuse by peacekeeping personnel uncovered here and the United Nations’ appalling disregard for victims are stomach-turning, but the awful truth is that this isn’t uncommon,” said Paula Donovan, the co-director of the advocacy group

“The UN’s instinctive response to sexual violence in its ranks – ignore, deny, cover up, dissemble – must be subjected to a truly independent commission of inquiry with total access, top to bottom, and full subpoena power,” Donovan added.

A senior UN aid worker has been suspended over the alleged passing of the report to French authorities.

The UN told Anders Kompass, a citizen of Sweden, that “it was his duty to know and comply” with protocols, which indicated the report should have remained confidential.

France says it is currently carrying out an investigation into the allegations, while a UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) spokesperson confirmed that a probe into “the leaking of confidential information by a staff member” was underway.

In March, the UN Security Council approved an additional 1,000 personnel to be added to its 12,000-strong peacekeeping force in the CAR.

The UNHCR says nearly one million people have been displaced in the CAR since the outbreak of violence.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in the Central African Republic since December 2013, when Christian militias launched coordinated attacks against the mostly Muslim Seleka group, which toppled the government in March 2013.

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