How the UN was forced to tackle stain on its integrity

[emad]

How the UN was forced to tackle stain on its integrity
'The Independent' was first to reveal the scandal. Kate Holt defied threats to tell the story
11 February 2005


In March 1998 I was having dinner with staff from the UN in Sarajevo. The topic of conversation turned to the increasing number of bars in Bosnia, housing prostitutes from countries in eastern Europe, mainly Romania and Moldova. Someone said that in the infamous Arizona Market, near Brcko in north-eastern Bosnia, young girls from these countries were paraded weekly for sale and purchased by bar owners who put them to work as sex slaves.

It wasn't until the following year that I made it back to Bosnia. It became apparent that while the UN mission in Bosnia said it was "deeply concerned" about the rapid increase in trafficked women for use as sex slaves in Bosnia, some of its employees were heavily involved in providing a market for this trade. Every young girl I spoke to in these bars told me that, of the six to eight men they were forced to sleep with each night, the majority were UN employees.

At the same time I became friends with Kathy Bolkovac, an American police officer working for the UN who was outspoken about its complicity in the problem. She was accused by the UN in Sarajevo of "falsifying her timesheets". She later filed a case for unfair dismissal and won. It was evident that she had been considered too dangerous to keep on, as she was willing to reveal that very senior levels of the UN mission were involved in this sickening trade.

I was approached by a Bosnian photographer at around the same time who told me that he had photographed a very senior member of the UN one night in a bar with a very young Romanian girl. He was followed home, beaten up and had his camera stolen. Returning to my apartment that night I received an anonymous phone call saying "don't continue with your investigations or you will find yourself in trouble".

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=609903

[Village Idiot]

1. Is this the same as the DynCorp contraversy?

[KissMeKate]

2. sex trafficking increases wherever there are concentrations of soldiers

Thanks Kate Holt!