UN Fires Staffer, Suspends 6 in Congo Abuse Probe

March 18, 2005
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-congo-un-sex.html?oref=login

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations fired one employee and suspended six without pay among 17 civilian staff being investigated on allegations of sexual abuse in the Congo, a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday.
Over the past year, the United Nations has probed 150 allegations of sexual exploitation of women and girls, including gang rapes by peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Troop contributors have been told to take action against military personnel but the world body is responsible for civilians.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said one person was ``summarily dismissed'' and was being prosecuted in France. French authorities several months ago jailed a U.N. staff member on charges of rape and making pornographic videos of children.
Another staff member resigned rather than face disciplinary procedures and six were suspended without pay, pending action, while another case was being reviewed, Eckhard said.
Five others under investigation are U.N. volunteers under the jurisdiction of the U.N. Development Program, which is handling those cases.
Allegations against three others, including the former chief of staff of the U.N. operation, Jacques Grinberg of Australia, had been ``completed and no grounds for initiating disciplinary procedures were found,'' Eckhard said.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan last month announced ``non-fraternization'' regulations that banned peacekeepers from having sex or socializing with the local population.
The new rules so far apply only to Congo, which has the largest of the 17 U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world with 16,700 personnel.
Investigations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers are also ongoing in Burundi, Haiti and Liberia.
Such charges are not new. Canada and Italy disclosed more than a decade ago their soldiers had tortured Somalis. But media reports, especially during the Bosnian war in the 1990s, have multiplied and U.N. officials now speak about them openly.