By IRNA,
London : Children as young as six are being sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid workers, according to a leading UK charity.
Children in post-conflict areas are being abused by the very people drafted into such zones to help look after them, Save the Children said in a new report Tuesday.
The report, No One to Turn To, called for a global watchdog to be urgently established to monitor the “significant” scale of the exploitation of minors.
Abuses included rape, child prostitution, pornography, sexual assault, and the trading of food and mobile phones for sex. Most victims were said to be too afraid to report the crime, fearing punishment, stigmatization or the withdrawal of aid.
The research carried out in south Sudan, Ivory Coast and Haiti suggested there was still “chronic underreporting” of sexual abuse in conflict-affected countries, where children as young as six were being targeted by adult foreigners.
“It is hard to imagine a more grotesque abuse of authority or flagrant violation of children’s rights,” said Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK.
“All humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency situations, including Save the Children UK, must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on,” Whitbread said.
The charity called for better reporting mechanisms to be introduced to deal with what it called “endemic failures” in responding to reported cases of abuse.