For shame

Christian Century, June 12, 2007

FOR SHAME: Sexual violence against men and children has long been used by combatants as a tool in war, but sexual violence is also being perpetrated by another group of persons, according to Elizabeth G. Ferris: humanitarian workers and peacekeepers charged to aid and protect displaced peoples and refugees in conflict situations.

"You people should have taken care of me. Instead you abandoned me," a child was quoted as saying in a study of three African countries conducted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The study revealed that humanitarian workers were exchanging food, medical care and other goods for sexual favors. Parents even used their children as a means of getting help for their families. "If your family does not have a girl, your family is in crisis," a refugee mother said in Sierra Leone. Girls 13 to 18 are the most vulnerable. The UNHCR study concluded that this sexual exploitation takes place with impunity--no aid worker had been disciplined or lost his job on account of it. Most of the persons guilty of this exploitation were national staff, not expatriates (Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Spring).