Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the United Nations will investigate allegations by a British children's charity that peacekeepers and aid workers have sexually abused children in conflict and disaster zones. From United Nation's headquarters in New York, VOA's Margaret Besheer has more.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
Save the Children alleges in a new report that boys and girls as young as six years old are victims of widespread sexual abuse perpetrated by aid workers and U.N. peacekeepers, but that they are often too afraid to report it.
Mr. Ban said the allegations are serious and the U.N. will investigate. "I have made it always clear that my policy on this sexual exploitation abuse cases is 'zero tolerance'. We will address this issue with the same level of emphasis. However, on all these cases, which have been raised, we will very carefully investigate and whenever there is necessary matters we will take necessary measures from this," he said.
Save the Children interviewed 129 girls and 121 boys between the ages of 10 and 17 in Southern Sudan, the Ivory Coast and Haiti. The study charges that aid workers and peacekeepers traded sex with young victims in exchange for food, money, soap and sometimes cell phones.
The United Nations maintains it is a very small proportion of international peacekeepers who are involved in such acts.
The world body deploys troops to many countries, but does not have the authority to discipline those that commit crimes. It can only send accused peacekeepers back to their home countries to be prosecuted.
But Mr. Ban did not shy away from the issue, saying the Save the Children study is very valuable and raised several good points.
Peacekeeping officials also addressed the report Tuesday, saying the British charity made a compelling case that reporting mechanisms need to be strengthened so that victims can speak out in safety.
The United Nations says that even one incident is one too many, and it is working hard to address the issue.
A study by the non-profit organisation Save the Children UK claims that a number of aid workers and peacekeepers from organisations such as the United Nations and Save the Children itself have engaged in sexual abuse of children in the course of their humanitarian efforts. The study also says that many of these incidents remain unreported, and those involved often go unpunished.

The study was based on field data from Sudan, Ivory Coast and Haiti, where they held focus groups followed by in-depth interviews. In 20 of the 38 focus groups, United Nations representatives were the main perpetrators of sexual abuse, possibly due to the larger number of peacekeepers than aid workers, but 23 organisations were identified as being involved across the three countries. 
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon 
While 14 and 15 year olds were the most common victims, the study found cases of abuse in children as young as 6. Most offenders were men, and most of the victims were girls. One 14-year-old boy who works in a peacekeeping camp on the Ivory Coast told the study that "often it will be between eight and 10 men who will share two or three girls".

An "overwhelming" majority of those interviewed said they would never report a case of abuse, and did not know of anyone who had reported a case, despite more than half knowing of incidents of sexual abuse, and many knowing of 10 or more. The study reported that unless this silence was dealt with, any attempts to eliminate the abuse would be "fundamentally flawed".

In response to the study, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that the organisation's policy on such abuse was "zero tolerance." The U.N. "will very carefully investigate and whenever there is necessary matters we will take necessary measures from this". Both Save the Children and the U.N. have pointed out that, while it does not reduce the seriousness of the offences, the offenders represent a small proportion of all peacekeepers and aid workers in foreign countries. As the U.N. does not have any prosecutory powers of its own, peacekeepers found to be involved in child sexual abuse are either fired or sent back to their home countries to face prosecution.