The U.N. Is Not Serious About Its Peacekeeper Rape Problem

"In the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 2, U.N. peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic entered a Muslim enclave known as PK5 in the capital city of Bangui...A bloody gunfight broke out between the joint Rwandan and Cameroonian peacekeeping force and locals...

In the mayhem of the attacks, according to Amnesty, one of the peacekeepers allegedly violently raped a 12-year-old girl.

The organization's press release relays the alleged attack in detail:

'The girl had been hiding in a bathroom during a house search at approximately 2am on 2 August. A man allegedly wearing the blue helmet and vest of the UN peacekeeping forces took her outside and raped her behind a truck.

'When I cried, he slapped me hard and put his hand over my mouth,' the girl told Amnesty International...

There has been an epidemic of sexualized violence cases accompanying U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world, particularly in CAR, which has seen accusations against at least 14 peacekeepers during the country's nearly three-year crisis...

To a large degree, a denial of justice in peacekeeper sexual abuse is baked into the system. Roméo Dallaire, head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, told Canada's Globe and Mail in May that there is a 'culture of silence' and near-impunity for peacekeepers in missions abroad. Peacekeepers who commit crimes fall under the jurisdiction of their home countries, which frequently do nothing to hold them accountable legally. The U.N., for its part, has done little to put pressure on these countries to carry out justice, advocates say. 'The U.N. sees its job as trying to attract peacekeepers,' said Mariner. 'They don't want to do anything to provide a disincentive for countries to provide troops.'...

In the meantime, amid all the legal and political wrangling that must come before determining culpability, there's a 12-year-old girl in Bangui who is traumatized... Now, apparently, she has a long wait to see if anyone will take responsibility for the crime she says was committed against her. For now, it seems, she is caught in a system that cares more about protecting its own than the people it is meant to defend."