PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 2 (Reuters) – United Nations investigations substantiated four allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse last year against a U.N.-backed security force in Haiti, the majority of whose staff are Kenyan troops.
A U.N. report, dated February 16, on the investigations was first reported by Haiti’s AyiboPost on Thursday.
“All the allegations were found to be substantiated by investigations conducted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,” the report said without detailing the outcome of the cases.
It said it had referred the results to the force’s leaders for “appropriate investigation and remedial measures.” A spokesperson for the force declined to comment.
Marta Hurtado Gomez, a spokesperson for the U.N. human rights commission, told AyiboPost that further action on the cases was up to the force and the countries involved because the operation, now called the Gang Suppression Force, was not a formal U.N. mission.
Haiti’s prime minister’s office said it was not immediately able to comment and the U.N. human rights commission did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.N.-backed force was initially led by Kenya, which supplies the majority of some 1,000 troops and first deployed in June 2024. In September, it was restructured with the aim of creating a larger, better resourced and more aggressive force.
Jamaica, Belize, the Bahamas, Guatemala and El Salvador also contributed smaller numbers of personnel.
An advance team from Chad, which has promised 800 troops, arrived on Wednesday.
There were widespread sexual abuse and exploitation accusations, including allegations of child victims, against U.N. peacekeepers under the MINUSTAH mission in Haiti from 2004 to 2017. Only a few peacekeepers were prosecuted by their home countries.
(Reporting by Harold Isaac and Sarah Morland; Editing by Natalia Siniawski and Cynthia Osterman)
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