Children Condemned by the UN to Sexualabuse : Regional Analysis - Central Africa

Sexual abuse is long-associated with the tragedy of war. Today, with rape and sexual abuse listed by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a crime against humanity, civilians can take some measure of comfort knowing that perpetrators may be brought to book. When prosecutions do not occur, as is now happening in the Central African Republic (CAR) against the reported sexual abuses perpetrated by UN peacekeepers that allegedly began in December 2013, the system breaks down. Peacekeeping troops lose the confidence of populations they are meant to protect. This confidence is critical in the CAR, where peacekeepers hold together the conflicted country and provided the security for the December 2015 elections. In the CAR, 11,000 UN peacekeepers are active beside 5,600 African Union (AU) peacekeepers and 2,000 French troops.