Saturday, May 9, 2015

U.N. Official Accuses France of Delays in Child Sexual Abuse Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/world/africa/un-official-accuses-france-of-delays-in-child-sexual-abuse-case.html?ref=world&_r=0

On Friday, allegations surfaced of sexual abuse against French soldiers working in the Central African Republic. France has yet to order an investigation and the UN is now speaking out to France to push investigations forward.

After the questioning began by UN officials, the UN is now ordering their own investigations. They took testimonies of 6 young boys, all claiming that they either witnessed or were abused themselves by soldiers sometime between December and May 2014.

France deployed the soldiers long before the UN's peacekeeping initiative began in Central African Republic. The soldiers were deployed to keep peace between any conflicting groups. Samantha Power is pushing for the investigation to be done by independent, unbiased investigators hired by the UN and not France. Overall, everyone is outraged by the prospect of these gross allegations being truthful, and all parties involved are seeking justice for the victims.

Lauren Edmunds

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