U.N. Vows Strong Action on Staff Abuse 

May 9, 2006
Houston Chronicle
Original Source: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/ap/world/3852394

GENEVA — The United Nations will take action against any employees who sexually abuse girls in Liberia, an official said Tuesday in response accusations that aid workers and peacekeepers were trading food for sex with girls left homeless by war.
The aid group Save the Children, which surveyed nearly 160 children and about 170 adults who were either living in camps or had recently returned home, said Monday they were repeatedly told of girls having sex with older men in exchange for money, food and other goods.
The accused included peacekeeping troops, aid workers and other powerful men in the community. The group's report did not give the nationality of the aid workers or peacekeepers involved. About 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers are based in Liberia.
Christiane Berthiaume, spokeswoman for the World Food Program, told reporters she had great respect for two Liberian women who made allegations against WFP employees in interviews with the British Broadcasting Corporation, but she said it was unclear whether the alleged abusers worked directly for the U.N. agency or for a local charity distributing WFP food.
If the accusations are true, we will take the most severe measures and ask, of course, for the arrest of the guilty, Berthiaume said.
She said the agency spends a lot of time training the people it works with _ many of them hired locally _ telling them, We won't tolerate any abuses.
Damien Personnaz, a spokesman for the U.N. Children's Fund, said UNICEF is investigating the allegations because it is the lead U.N. agency in Liberia, but has no reason to doubt Save the Children's report.
If the allegations prove true, other measures will be taken, he said.
Marie Heuze, chief spokeswoman in Geneva for the United Nations, said U.N. investigators so far reported eight cases of sexual exploitation since the beginning of the year.
U.N. agencies are helping hundreds of thousands of Liberians recover from years of civil war.