Haiti mission: Pakistani Blue Berets guilty of sexual abuse

Reports of one-year jail-time after repatriation.

UNITED NATIONS:

Three Pakistani peacekeepers in the UN mission in Haiti have been found guilty of sexual abuse, the UN said on Tuesday, adding that orders had been passed to put the men in jail.

The three soldiers were at the centre of one of two new sexual abuse investigations involving UN forces in the Caribbean nation.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said a court-martial had been held by the Pakistani military in Haiti and the three had been found guilty, ordered jailed and repatriated.

“A senior Pakistani official visited Haiti on March 8 and 9 to meet with Haitian authorities and informed them that three individuals were found guilty of sexual exploitation and abuse through a court martial proceeding undertaken in accordance with the national laws of Pakistan,” Nesirky told a press briefing.

The three will be imprisoned and given a dishonorable discharge on their return to Pakistan, the UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was told, according to the spokesman.

“The guilty parties have been repatriated and the United Nations is further liaising with the Pakistani authorities to examine the formal details of the procedures and to ensure a follow-up,” Nesirky added.

The three Pakistani police were based at a UN camp in the city of Gonaives. The UN said in January that it was also investigating allegations against UN police in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Details of that case have not been released.

Details of the prison term were not immediately known – though CNN reported that the term was of one year. Asked by a reporter if the one-year sentence was appropriate for the crime, Nesirky responded: “The United Nations will not comment on the terms of the punishment under the member-states, the judicial procedure. That’s obviously a matter between Pakistan and Haiti, but, as we stated from the outset, the United Nations considers this to be a case of the most serious sexual exploitation and abuse.”

The UN mission in Haiti has been rocked by a series of abuse scandals.

Last year Uruguayan troops were accused of raping a Haitian youth after a video was posted on the Internet.

(with additional input from WIRES)

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2012.