Tuesday, May 27, 2008

What the heck is this?

The report on sexual abuse of kids by international aid workers and peacekeepers is unbelievable, and not in a good way. The report released Tuesday by Save the Children UK, a British charity, found "significant" levels of abuse of children during emergency situations, the Reuters international news service reported. Can this possibly be true? What's wrong with people? The report said the United Nations is investigating reports of abuse by its soldiers in locations such as Haiti, Liberia, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Reuters said. But the United Nations is but one of 23 humanitarian, peacekeeping and groups accused of sexual abuse in three countries -- Haiti, Southern Sudan and Ivory Coast. The report called for the establishment of a global organization to monitor anti-abuse efforts and develop strategies to combat it. Strategies to combat it? Are there any countries where such conduct is acceptable? Is so, how about keeping those soldiers out of the peacekeeping forces? And, aren't they soldiers? How are they able to get out in the society unsupervised to have sex with children? If this is true, maybe the United States should reconsider putting its soldiers under U.N. command in emergencies.

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