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The Commander of an all-female Indian UN Police unit has arrived in Liberia as part of an advance team that will pave the way for the landmark deployment of a 125-strong force later this month. This is the first time the world body has sent an all-women specialized police unit to a peacekeeping operation. Commander Seema Dhundiya, who will head the Formed Police Unit (FPU), arrived in the capital Monrovia on Sunday along with logistics and engineering specialists who will prepare for the rest of her unit. The unit itself is expected to arrive around 29 January, said UNMIL spokesman Ben Dotsei Malor. Advance personnel of the unit, he said, were expected to arrive in the country yesterday.

Female peacekeepers reach Liberia

The first all-female unit of United Nations peacekeepers has arrived in Liberia's capital, Monrovia.
The group of more than 100 police women from India will stay in Liberia for six months, helping to train the local police force.

They will also carry out security duties in forthcoming local elections.

The UN currently has 15,000 peacekeepers deployed in Liberia, which is struggling to recover after a 14-year civil war.

The unit is made up volunteers drawn from across India and are experienced in battling insurgencies in Kashmir and the north-east.

UN police advisor Mark Kroeker, who has served with the Los Angeles Police Department for more than 30 years, says the presence of women in UN missions enhances their access to vulnerable populations.

"It also sends a message to the post-conflict societies where we work that women officers can have any position and play any role in a police organisation," he said.

April 29, 2005 - (Reuters) The United Nations is pressing ahead with a crackdown on sexual misconduct by peacekeepers in Liberia after finding that some allegations leveled so far were true, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday.

"Preliminary investigations under way by the mission have indicated that some of the allegations have been substantiated while others have not," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"The Peacekeeping Department here in New York as well as the mission on the ground (in Liberia) are taking appropriate follow-up action," he said.

The confirmation of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the West African nation was the latest in a wave of bad news for the world body including similar allegations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere.

In Congo, peacekeepers and civilian staff have been accused of rape, pedophilia, and enticing hungry children with food or money in exchange for sex.

"The United Nations treats this issue with the utmost seriousness. As we continue to clamp down on misconduct throughout all peacekeeping missions, it is very likely that the number of these allegations will increase," Dujarric said.

A report earlier this year by Jordan's U.N. ambassador, Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, recommended an overhaul of the world body's 17 peacekeeping operations of some 64,000 personnel.

The U.N. mission in Liberia has been in place since September 2003 and currently has nearly 15,000 troops as well as 1,000 international police officers and more than 1,000 international and local civilian employees.

The mission is supporting a transition government installed in August 2003 after 14 years of on-and-off civil war in Liberia.

The findings of the inquiry coincided with the sudden departure of the head of the U.N. mission in Liberia, American Jacques Klein. Dujarric said Klein was leaving because his contract had expired.

"We are happy with the work he has done," Dujarric said. Klein's deputy, Abou Moussa, will take over until a replacement is found.

Zaza001 schreef:Mannelijke VN-soldaten hadden ook de neiging zich te "vergrijpen" aan veelal minderjarige meisjes

iemand schreef:

Zaza001 schreef:Mannelijke VN-soldaten hadden ook de neiging zich te "vergrijpen" aan veelal minderjarige meisjes

Hebben nu de Vrouwelijke VN-soldaten de neiging zich te "vergrijpen" aan minderjarige jongetjes?