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Audio Book Club MSNBC home page Navigation Disturbing the peace ‘Dateline’ uncovers violence committed by U.N. peacekeepers Jan. 11 — They are charged with some of the most crucial work on earth. For 50 years, United Nations peacekeepers have been deployed around the globe to put food into the hands of the starving, to protect refugees from the bullets of warring factions, to alleviate suffering and to stop torture. But now, “Dateline” has uncovered evidence that some of the violence has been committed by the peacekeepers themselves. Here’s “Dateline NBC” correspondent Lea Thompson with a disturbing report about abuse of the powerless. Dateline NBC home page Hot zones for peacekeepers worldwide Dateline MSNBC News Keyword Microsoft Plaza ‘These Somalis were being hunted by these men. I remember hearing the troops yell “I got one!”’ — KYLE BROWN Former U.N. peacekeeper THEY’RE CALLED “blue helmets,” peacekeepers from the United Nations, sent into hot spots all over the world. Their work is hard. They stop fighting, deliver food and medicine, protect human rights and it’s dangerous. More than 500 blue helmets have been killed in action in the last 50 years. These heroic soldiers have even won the Nobel Peace Prize and all of us pay for this good work. Although the U.S. owes money to the U.N., American taxpayers still kick in more than $200 million a year for peacekeeping. But the noble goals of the United Nations aren’t always carried out by its peacekeepers. “Dateline NBC” has found that some of these very same soldiers who are supposed to be protecting civilians have instead been accused of committing terrible crimes against them: everything from child prostitution to smuggling drugs and weapons, torture, rape, even murder. And what may be worse, critics say the U.N. is doing very little to stop it. A result: crimes of war, committed by soldiers of peace. Conflicts and peacemakers: Hot zones where U.N. or other peacekeeping forces are already engaged or may soon be. For example, in the African nation of Somalia, peacekeepers on a U.S.-led mission were so brazen they actually took pictures of their atrocities — trophy photos — as souvenirs. Italian peacekeepers snapped away as they pinned a man to the ground and allegedly shocked his genitals with wires from a radio generator. Other Italian peacekeepers took photos as they bound a woman to an armored truck and allegedly raped her with a flare gun. Peacekeepers from Belgium were photographed roasting a boy over an open fire. A witness said the boy went into shock after his clothes caught on fire. The soldiers were acquitted of torture after the child couldn’t be located. The peacekeepers claimed it was just a game to discourage the boy from stealing. AN INCREASING PROBLEM ‘It’s become worse recently, because U.N. peacekeeping has happened in much greater scale and volume.’ — JOHN HILLEN Former U.S. peacekeeper And these are only some of the cases we know about because peacekeepers took trophy photos. Experts say many more cases of wrong doing still haven’t come to light. “Not only were these soldiers committing these extraordinary crimes, but they’re actually documenting their crimes themselves,” says John Hillen, a former peacekeeper for the U.S. He’s now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who has written extensively on peacekeeping and believes in it. Hillen points out bad soldiers from many armies have abused civilians. And he says the number of U.N. peacekeepers who have committed crimes over the past 50 years is small, but he says in recent years, incidents have increased greatly. “It’s become worse recently, because U.N. peacekeeping has happened in much greater scale and volume,” says Hillen. Former UN peacekeeper Kyle Brown says when desperate Somalis tried to steal their food, some peacekeepers in his unit turned violent. Kyle Brown was a peacekeeper, an elite Canadian paratrooper sent to Somalia on a U.S.-led mission. Part of his job was to help the starving people of Somalia. But Brown says that when desperate Somalis tried to steal their food, some peacekeepers in his unit turned violent. “That seemed to be the only language that they understood, violence. You know, these people lived and died by violence,” he says. Brown also says his commanders had issued orders to “rough up” the locals — even had the soldiers set out food and water for “bait” to lure hungry Somalis into shooting range. Lea Thompson: “You used the term ‘turkey shoot.’” Kyle Brown: ”Yes. These Somalis were being hunted by these men. I remember hearing the troops yell ‘I got one!’” The peacekeepers tied up a 16-year-old Somali boy at a weapons bunker — nicknamed “the pit” — who had been hanging around the compound. Brown says the corporal who was supervising him blindfolded the boy, bound his legs, and tied his hands behind his back. According to Brown, the corporal kicked the boy, then beat him with a baton and a lead pipe. Soldiers later testified the beating continued for hours and more than a dozen different peacekeepers came by to watch and some even joined in, including Brown. Image: Kyle Brown In all, more than 80 soldiers heard the boy’s screams, and no one came to his rescue. But peacekeeper Brown did pull out his camera and take pictures. He says it was his corporal’s idea. A medic later found cigarette burns on the teenager’s feet and genitals and evidence that he was raped with the peacekeepers’ baton. After hours of torture, the boy finally died. Lea Thompson: “As you watched him do this, you knew it was wrong.” Kyle Brown: “I knew it was wrong.” Thompson: “You knew it was beyond the rules?” Brown: “Yes, and at the same time the reality was he was under orders to do what he was doing.” Thompson: “So you stood back?” Brown: “I stood back. It wasn’t a conscious effort, it wasn’t something I consciously tried to do.” When it found out about the murder, Canada’s military brought criminal charges against the peacekeepers. Brown was sent to prison for 20 months for torture and manslaughter. His corporal tried to hang himself and never stood trial. The entire unit was shut down. FEW ARE PROSECUTED But John Hillen says that kind of crackdown on peacekeepers is rare. “We may think that an egregious offense has been committed and the soldier may just get slapped on the wrist by national authorities and sent home, if that,” says Hillen. Nicolas Dieuvit says he was pinned down by three U.N. peacekeepers and tortured in broad daylight. Consider the case of Nicolas Dieuvit, an itinerant worker in Haiti who at one time was a mechanic in the U.N. compound there. Last winter, Dieuvit went to the compound where he says he asked some of the peacekeepers there — who were from Pakistan — for wood. There was an argument. Dieuvit says the soldiers started beating him with fists and rifles. He wasn’t armed, and says that in order to protect himself he threw rocks at them. Dieuvit says the peacekeepers grabbed him, tied his hands behind his back and strung him up to a mango tree. He says they beat him bloody for seven hours. Lea Thompson: “Did you scream?” Nicolas Dieuvit: “Yes, I screamed. The whole time I was screaming. But every time I screamed, they beat me harder.” Dieuvit also says, while he was pinned down, three of the peacekeepers gang-raped him in broad daylight. Dieuvit insists a U.N. major stood by and watched the torture. Image: Nicolas Dieuvit Lea Thompson: “This major, did he try to stop them?” Nicolas Dieuvit: “No not at all... He just laughed.” Thompson: “The major laughed?” Dieuvit: “Yes. He said I would die inside the camp. He said today is your last day, you’re going to die.” ‘We may think that an egregious offense has been committed and the soldier may just get slapped on the wrist by national authorities and sent home, if that.’ — JOHN HILLEN Former U.S. peacekeeper The peacekeepers later turned Dieuvit over to the Haitian police, who photographed bruises all over his body. U.N. SAYS IT WAS DIEUVIT’S FAULT But the U.N. says its two investigations tell a different story. It says Dieuvit was part of a belligerent group that started the fight and that a rock he threw injured a peacekeeper on the head. Ambassador Julian Harston is in charge of the U.N. mission in Haiti. “I’ve seen the pictures. I’m not an expert in that kind of picture. I was fairly horrified looking at the pictures I have to tell you. But the inquiries suggest that reasonable force was used,” says Harston. Dieuvit was brought by police to Haiti’s largest hospital. Doctors there issued a medical certificate concluding that Dieuvit was the victim of “rape and abuse.” But the U.N. says there’s no conclusive proof Dieuvit was raped and the medical report was “flawed” because the hospital didn’t conduct sophisticated tests. Ambassador Harston says, “There were no blood tests made. The report, it is quite clear, was written by two separate people. The report was unsigned.” But in fact, the report was signed by doctors and an administrator of the Lesions Tramatique hospital. Though they can’t identify the assailants, the doctors and the Haitian police told “Dateline” there was physical evidence of rape. Of course, no one knows for sure exactly what happened except for Dieuvit and the peacekeepers themselves. But we do know that Dieuvit and his lawyer never got to question those peacekeepers in court. Neither did the Haitian police. That’s because under international law, soldiers have immunity from prosecution by anyone other than their own government. So, just three days after their fight with Dieuvit, the peacekeepers were allowed to end their tour of duty and fly back to Pakistan. And what did the Pakistani government do? Just like the U.N., it investigated — and cleared — its own soldiers of both rape and unreasonable force. Lea Thompson: “Do you see anything wrong with that?” Julian Harston: “No. I think you have to go along with the system that exists. Who would you ask to do it, if it weren’t for the people who were closely involved?” NO TIME FOR TRAINING But critics say there’s a problem in the system — training. The U.N. does show peacekeepers training tapes. But it doesn’t have the money to give soldiers any basic training. Instead, it trains only their commanders, relying on the countries that supply the troops to prepare them. But many peacekeepers come from developing nations that don’t have the resources to train them properly. All they [peacekeepers] really get from the U.N. are little wallet cards: a “code of conduct” with rules like don’t abuse alcohol or drugs or threaten anyone. Despite that, the U.N. argues allegations of peacekeeper misconduct are largely unsubstantiated. Crimes are rare and isolated and the vast majority of soldiers do a good job. Colonel Peter Leentjes says, “99.9% of all troops are very well disciplined, are well looked after, and look after the people that they are protecting very well.” Leentjes is head of training for U.N. peacekeepers. He is the first to admit there are flaws. Lea Thompson: “The U.N. has no real screening.” Peter Leentjes: “Correct.” Thompson: “It has no real training.” Leentjes: “Correct.” Thompson: “And it cannot punish.” Leentjes: “Absolutely correct.” Thompson: “When you don’t have any of those things, aren’t you asking for problems?” Leentjes: “No more than I think the normal inter- relationship the international community would generate. This is an imperfect business.” U.N. ADMITS PROBLEMS In fact, he and the U.N. admit peacekeepers have had serious problems with child prostitution, drug dealing and running brothels. “Larceny, racketeering, black marketeering, smuggling, prostitution, these sorts of things, but done in a very systematic and organized fashion,” says Hillen. In Bosnia, more than 20 peacekeepers were kicked out for theft and corruption. Nearly four dozen others were sent home after allegedly abusing mental patients at a hospital. Peacekeepers from Canada were accused of beatings, rape and sexual abuse of a handicapped teenage girl. Canadian peacekeepers who were sent to Africa made their own home movies. Among them, a corporal, who admits he was a neo-Nazi. Canada did take action against its troops. It kicked one peacekeeper out after he returned from Somalia. It reprimanded 22 other soldiers and expelled two officers who were in Bosnia. The Italian military also has disciplined 12 peacekeepers for abusing civilians in Somalia. But, it has filed no criminal charges against soldiers who are accused of rape and electrocution. Five years later, Italian authorities tell “Dateline” they are still investigating. Both countries and Belgium tell “Dateline” they’ve strengthened controls on their soldiers to avoid future problems. But a military court in Belgium let peacekeepers go free. Even the country’s defense minister was outraged. Experts say that’s not unusual, that even terrible crimes by peacekeepers are often just set aside and forgotten. “The fact that we’re only prosecuting the tip of the iceberg because we have hard evidence is worrying, because I’m not sure how we’re going to fix the problem,” says Hillen. So, if the U.N. can’t screen, can’t train and can’t punish its peacekeepers, does it at least keep track of the crimes they commit, just to make sure the worst never take the field again? “Dateline” asked the U.N. for statistics on crimes by peacekeepers. There aren’t any. The U.N. doesn’t even track the problem. Lea Thompson: “Shouldn’t somebody do that?” Peter Leentjes: “Oh yeah. Somebody should do that.” So in the end, despite all the good work peacekeepers do, the U.N. acknowledges the only real check it has on its bad soldiers is the honor system. Lea Thompson: “It all boils down to trust?” Peter Leentjes: “Of course.” Thompson: “Is that good enough?” Leentjes: “It has to be. It’s the only thing we’ve got.” After “Dateline” began asking questions, the U.N. told us it will now try to start keeping a record of crimes by its peacekeepers. Incidentally, “Dateline” got a first- hand look at how dangerous these missions can be: Barely 24 hours after arriving in Haiti, correspondent Lea Thompson and our staff were car-jacked at gunpoint and robbed. Most of their camera equipment, tapes and notes were taken. They had to leave the country with an armed escort from the U.S. embassy after officials told us it was too dangerous to stay. The embassy told us someone didn’t want “Dateline” to report a story, criticizing officials there. 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