UN Peacekeepers Continue Sexual Exploitation in Liberia

FoxNews reports of some of the 17,000 UN peacekeepers in the poverty stricken country of Liberia are exploiting young girls by trading food, money and other items for sex. According to the Fox report:

Save the Children, which surveyed nearly 160 children and about 170 adults who were either living in camps or had recently returned home, said 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 report did not give the nationality of the aid workers or peacekeepers involved. About 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers are based in Liberia.

The story explains why it is so easy to exploit the young girls:

"With the coming in of a new government, mechanisms are being put in place to limit these kinds of things," said Mohammed Sheriff, Liberia's deputy health minister.

But Sheriff cautioned that preventing sex transactions is a difficult task for a poor country still recovering from years of violence.

"We have parents that have so many children — eight to 10 — that are not able to cope with the meager amount of money they have," he said. "People live below 25 cents (per day); so you can look at reasons why these thing may happen."

Yes, it is easy to see why the exploitation can be accomplished. What is tough to swallow is that this comes at the hands of the vaunted United Nations. It also has been brought to the world's attention several times and yet it continues with "little change" and little world outrage. Those who look to the UN to lead the world, should see that they cannot even patrol themselves. When it comes to doing the right thing, the UN shows itself to be impotent. But when it comes to exploiting young starving girls impotence is far from the problem.