#predatorypeacekeepers campaign - have you all seen this?

[ThatStewie]

Have you seen this campaign by Media Diversified to hold UN peacekeepers accountable for child sexual abuse and rape? I can't believe there are actually no legal procedures in place to prosecute UN staff for committing serious crimes against the very people they are meant to be protecting. Or that less than 7000 people have signed the petition demanding the UN follow its own procedures.

This is the petition.

The Guardian covered the allegations in CAR last year and again in January; as has Al Jazeera. This sexual abuse by UN staff has been happening for decades and still there is nothing being done to hold these male perpetrators accountable for raping children. It's happened in Haiti, Sierra Leone, Bosnia, Cambodia , East Timor and the Democratic Republic of the Congo - and now DRC troops are complicit in CAR.

I know a petition can be ignored but surely more than 7000 people can spare 2 minutes to say 'not in our name'.

Fucking hell
Signed. Bastards.

Signed. Funnily enough, I wrote a short story and mentioned this in the footnote at the end - I will add this petition to my list of links.

It's just unbelievable that we've got people wearing the UN symbol committing rape and apparently no omegas any authority to actually prosecute them.

Seem odd as when British forces go on tour we are still subject to British law, military law and the law of the host nation as well as the Geneva convention so there should be plenty of opportunity to prosecute as necessary. Why is this being so widely ignored?

This is absolutely horrendous.

Horrific. But unfortunately I'm not surprised. I'd heard rumours a few years ago.

Signed.

Signed, this is awful.

Scallops - there are reports going back to the wars in the former Yugoslavia :(

Signed and shared

Signed. I find this astonishing. I was aware that the various UN agencies were basically above the civil law (and there are arguments for and against that). But I can't believe this extends to gratuitous crimes against the person by individuals.

It shouldn't but as none of the nations whose troops have committed these crimes over the past 30 years have been prosecuted under their own laws, the UN needs to step up and fix it.

Media Diversified are running a campaign this weekend to highlight #predatorypeacekeepers as Sunday is the annual celebration of peacekeeping. There's lots of really good information and activism suggestions on their Tumblr page