REFUGEES-AFRICA: Girls Raped by Relief Workers, Says UN Report

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Feb 27 2002 (IPS) - Girls and adolescent refugees at camps in western Africa are victims of sexual abuse and exploitation by relief workers from international agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), a United Nations agency reported Wednesday.

An investigation conducted by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UK-based humanitarian organisation Save the Children uncovered the cases of abuse at refugee camps in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The report points the finger at staff of UN agencies, armed forces, and national and international NGOs, and also at local government officials and community leaders.

Testimonies gathered in the three countries mention abuses committed by relief workers representing more than 40 agencies and organisations, and 67 individuals, according to UNHCR.

Juan Martínez, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), announced that his institution issues an unequivocal condemnation against such unacceptable actions that harm particularly vulnerable people.

The head of a Switzerland-based coalition of development NGOs, Peter Niggli, called for harsh sanctions for those responsible for this scandal. He pointed out that no Swiss organisations were among the 40 implicated in the abuses.

Ives Bellego, spokesman for Doctors without Borders (Médicins Sans Frontières – MSF) expressed indignation about the abuses, and said that MSF, which was listed in the UNHCR report, would conduct an internal investigation.

The MSF official commented that the root causes of the problem must be addressed, as millions of refugees spend long periods in camps that do not have sufficient equipment or financial resources.

The UNHCR and Save the Children investigation states that violence and sexual exploitation seem to be widespread in the communities they visited in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The investigation team, headed by a representative from each of the two organisations, and including an independent consultant, interviewed 1,500 children and adults and received information of serious abuse committed by 67 individuals who work for agencies and NGOs whose mandate is ostensibly to protect refugees and the displaced.

“The exchange of sex for money or gifts appears to be widespread and the majority of children consulted said they knew of at least one other child involved in such an exchange,” says the report.

The children often see it as the only option they have for obtaining food or to meet other necessities, including resources for education.

Most of the victims are adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18.

The perpetrators of the abuse are generally men who hold relative power and influence, have access to merchandise and services, or who have high incomes, according to the investigating team.

This relatively prosperous elite includes UN personnel, members of peacekeeping forces and workers for humanitarian NGOs.

In the three countries visited, agency workers from international and local NGOs as well as UN agencies were reportedly the most frequent perpetrators of sexual abuse of children, “often using the very humanitarian aid and services intended to benefit the refugee population as tools of exploitation.”

In exchange for sex, girls under 18 were given cooking oil, bulgur wheat, plastic sheeting, medicine, transportation, loans, educational courses or skills training, says the report.

A refugee woman in Guinea said that at her camp “no one can access CSB (a soya nutrient) without having sex first. They say ‘a kilo for sex’.”

A girl living at a refugee camp in Liberia may receive the equivalent of 10 cents on the dollar in exchange for sex. With the coins, she can buy just a couple pieces of fruit or a handful of peanuts.

The UNHCR and Save the Children investigation is part of an “urgent and coordinated plan of action aimed at strengthening the protection of women and children refugees in general.”

Among the proposed measures are an increase in security, stepping up the international presence within the refugee camps, as well as expanded the number of female relief workers.

The plan also calls for setting up a mechanism that would allow the refugees to make complaints or denunciations, and for ensuring that the camps are designed in a way that provides safety and privacy for the residents.

The distribution of assistance and services must be improved in order to prevent the exploitation of minors and of women from recurring, according to the report.