Fraud and sex abuse probes in U.N. peace operations increase

"The U.N.'s internal oversight body says in a report on U.N. peace operations that the number of fraud cases it decided to investigate last year increased nearly 80% from 2018, while the number of sexual exploitation and abuse cases rose 40%...

The report said that while looking into an allegation that a member of a military contingent in Central African Republic sexually exploited and abused a 14-year-old girl, investigators identified 10 peacekeepers who had sexually exploited and abused 10 local female victims, including minors, in exchange for money and food. It said the findings were transmitted to the peacekeepers' home country, which was not identified.

In the Mali mission, the report said, investigations including sexual exploitation and fuel fraud by staff members, serious misconduct by a battalion commander and fuel theft by peacekeepers. For Congo, investigations included recruitment irregularities, fraud by a staff member, sexual exploitation and abuse, fraud by peacekeepers and bribery by a military staff officer. In Western Sahara, probes included prohibited conduct by a staff member and a military observer and medical insurance fraud by a staff member.

In South Sudan, investigations included sexual exploitation, assaults by a staff member against local people, forgery and misrepresentation by a staff member and pornographic materials accessed on an official computer by a peacekeeper. In addition, investigators corroborated an allegation that a member of a military contingent sexually harassed a female colleague.

The investigative body said it also corroborated an allegation that a local staff member in South Sudan exploited a local woman who became pregnant twice and was 'either forced or manipulated into having unwanted abortions.' It added that the staff member 'fraudulently paid for treatment relating to one of the abortions using his wife's medical insurance policy.'..."