The United States has called for greater transparency into the alleged sexual assaults by United Nations peace keepers in the Central African Republic, demanding to know the nationalities of those accused.
This comes in the back of fresh accusations received by the UN mission in the country against peacekeeping troops accused of sexually assaulting women and young girls.
The American ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, in a strongly worded testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the alleged crimes “egregious” and “horrific.”
She said that the greatest challenge in eliminating sexual exploitation and abuse was probably “the lack of transparency on allegations.”
Her testimony came a day after a French court heard charges against four French soldiers suspected of raping child refugees in the African country in 2013 and 2014.
Power applauded a commitment by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to make public the nationalities of those against whom credible allegations of sexual exploitation or abuse have been lodged.
Ban promised a “zero tolerance” poicy regarding such abuse, denouncing what he called a “cancer” in the world body, and saying that he would not hesitate to repatriate
