UN peacekeepers

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UN Peacekeepers Fathered Hundreds of Kids in Haiti
UN Peacekeepers 'Drop
a Baby in You' for Money
new study

UN Peacekeepers 'Drop a Baby in You' for Money

New study paints a dark picture of exploitation

(Newser) - A heartbreaking new study links UN peacekeepers to hundreds of children fathered in Haiti and abandoned to struggle in poverty, the New York Times reports. The peacekeepers—from over a dozen countries, but mostly Brazil and Uruguay—often gave food or money in exchange for sex, the study says, and...

UN Peacekeepers Again Accused of Raping Kids

Advocates say little progress has been made in Central African Republic

(Newser) - The UN publicly maintains a zero tolerance policy on sexual abuse. Less publicly, it stands by as peacekeepers rape women and children in the Central African Republic, victims and human rights organizations allege. Four years after UN peacekeepers were first accused of rape in the country following a decade of...

Report: UN Peacekeepers Did Nothing as Women Were Raped

The AP reported on the July 11 incident in Juba, South Sudan

(Newser) - United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon is launching an independent investigation into allegations that UN peacekeepers did not respond to prevent multiple cases of abuse and sexual violence against civilians and foreigners in South Sudan's capital, reports the AP . The AP this week reported that on July 11, South Sudanese...

UN Armies Use Troops Prone to Corruption

Alleged crimes described as 'sickening and odious'

(Newser) - Thirty countries that provide the most troops to UN peacekeeping armies are particularly prone to corruption, according to a new study . Transparency International, an organization that monitors corruption, says six of the most troop-contributing nations scored an F in an A-to-F grading system—Togo, Morocco, Chad, Egypt, Burkina Faso, and...

UN Finally Taking Action on 'Peacekeeper Babies'

Organization offers DNA tests to prove paternity

(Newser) - The UN peacekeepers arrive; months later, some leave infants behind. Now the United Nations has quietly started to offer DNA testing to help prove paternity claims and ensure support for the so-called "peacekeeper babies." It's a delicate step, as countries that contribute UN troops might not welcome...

Ukraine Peacekeepers Would 'Destroy' Truce: Russia

Ambassador accuses Ukrainian president of calling for UN assistance

(Newser) - In an unraveling ceasefire with Russia-backed separatists, Ukraine lost the city of Debaltseve yesterday; the BBC also reports that shelling picked up in the rebel-held city of Donetsk, and that separatists have been conducting mortar attacks in the town of Shirokyne. So it's perhaps not surprising that Ukrainian President...

45 Peacekeepers Held Captive in Syria Are Freed

Qatar says it helped broker release

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda-linked militants have released 45 Fijian peacekeepers captured two weeks ago in Syria , ending the UN's fourth crisis over abducted soldiers in the Golan Heights since March 2013. The Fijians were captured on the Syrian-controlled side of the contested buffer zone between Syria and Israel by fighters from the...

Peacekeepers Pull Off 'Greatest Escape' From Syria Militants

They were outnumbered in Golan Heights

(Newser) - Under cover of darkness, 40 Filipino peacekeepers escaped their besieged outpost in the Golan Heights after a seven-hour gunbattle with Syrian rebels, Philippine officials said today. Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents still hold captive 44 Fijian troops .The getaway, combined with the departure of another entrapped group of Filipino troops, marked a major...

44 Fiji Peacekeepers Captured by Syria Rebels

Militants force members of UN mission from Golan Heights post, also trap Filipino troops

(Newser) - The UN says that 44 of its Fijian peacekeeping troops have been captured by militants in Syria, while 75 of its Filipino peacekeepers are surrounded by insurgents who want them to surrender their weapons, reports the AP . All of the soldiers are said to be alive, and leaders from both...

UN Votes to Increase Troops in South Sudan to 12.5K

80% increase as Security Council calls for 'immediate cessation of hostilities'

(Newser) - The UN Security Council has voted to temporarily increase the UN peacekeeping force in conflict-torn South Sudan to 12,500 troops from 7,000, a nearly 80% increase. The resolution adopted unanimously today by the UN's most powerful body will also increase the UN's international police contingent from...

UN Sued Over Haiti Cholera Outbreak

Victims claim peacekeepers spread disease through bad sewerage system

(Newser) - It's cholera in the time of litigation: Haitian victims of the disease are filing a lawsuit against the UN, claiming peacekeepers are responsible for the outbreak that has killed more than 8,300 and sickened some 650,000 there since 2010. The Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in...

7 UN Peacekeepers Killed in Sudan

Deadliest attack in the history of the operation

(Newser) - Seven UN peacekeepers are dead and another 17 wounded after gunmen ambushed a team in Sudan's western region of Darfur. It is the deadliest ever single attack on the international force in the country since it began its work there in five years ago. The assault included sustained heavy...

UN Authorizes Offensive Force for Congo

Up to 3K peacekeeper troops to get 'intervention' authority to stop rebels

(Newser) - The UN Security Council has voted for the first time to authorize a peacekeeping force to carry out offensive operations, with up to 3,000 troops based in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, reports the AP . The resolution is good for one year, giving the "intervention brigade" the...

Syria Rebels Free 21 UN Peacekeepers

Rebel faction held them 4 days, gave in to pressure

(Newser) - Syrian rebels today freed 21 UN peacekeepers after holding them hostage for four days, ending a sudden entanglement with the world body that earned those trying to oust President Bashar Assad a flood of negative publicity. The Filipino peacekeepers, part of a force that has spent four decades monitoring an...

No Release for Seized UN Monitors

Their release had been expected today

(Newser) - The Philippine government was under the impression that Syrian rebels would release 21 UN monitors today—but that hasn't happened, it says. Officials say the rebels maintain that they won't release the monitors until Syrian government forces exit the Jamlah area, near the Golan Heights. "I don'...

Now Syrian Rebels Claim They Rescued UN 'Guests'

Video making demands for their release pulled offline

(Newser) - You got it all wrong, a Syrian rebel group protested today. They weren't abducting UN peacekeeping troops in the Golan Heights yesterday, they were rescuing them. The rebel group, known as the Yarmouk Martyrs' Brigade, has pulled down a video they'd posted on Facebook saying they wouldn't...

Syrian Opposition Detains 20 UN Peacekeepers

They had been monitoring Israel-Syria ceasefire

(Newser) - The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the detention of more than 20 peacekeepers monitoring the ceasefire between Israel and Syria by armed members of the Syrian opposition and demanded their immediate and unconditional release. Russia's UN Ambassador, the council president, says talks are underway between UN officials and...

All-Out War Looms as Congo Rebels Seize Goma
 All-Out War Looms in Congo 

All-Out War Looms in Congo

Strategic city now held by M23

(Newser) - A rebel group believed to be backed by Rwanda seized the strategic provincial capital of Goma in eastern Congo yesterday in a development that threatens to spark a new regional war. Explosions and machine-gun fire rocked the city of more than a million people as the M23 rebels pushed forward...

UN on Syria: It's a Civil War
 UN on Syria: It's a Civil War 

UN on Syria: It's a Civil War

'This is really becoming large scale,' peacekeeping chief says

(Newser) - The situation in Syria has officially descended into a full-blown civil war, the UN's peacekeeping chief said today. "Yes, I think we can say that," Herve Ladsous told Reuters , explaining that the opposition has claimed "large chunks of territory in several cities," and that regime...

Syria Continues Assault on Homs

23 reported killed yesterday as Arab League seeks peacekeepers

(Newser) - Syrian tanks have relaunched their assault on Homs, shelling the beleaguered city for a 10th day today after the government's rejection of the Arab League's attempts to launch a UN peacekeeping mission in the country. The League's push was today also rejected by Russia, which said a...

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