Democratic Republic of Congo II, Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers
February 2004
The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the most expensive in the world, costing over 2 million US Dollars a day to run. In May 2004, while on a photographic assignement in Bunia, I found out that UN soldiers in the town of Bunia, north eastern Congo, were sexually exploiting young girls - themselves victims of the war these soldiers had been sent to stop. The story was run as a feature in the Independent and, as a result, the UN launched numerous investigations.
Following the publication of this investigation Kofi Annan admitted "I am afraid there is clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken place. This is a shameful thing for the United Nations to have to say, and I am absolutely outraged by it," For thousands of women in the Congo, however, prostituting themselves to UN soldiers is currently their only means of survival.
Left: A young girl stands in front of a UN watch tower, situated 6 meters from her families tent, in the IDP camp in Bunia, DRC.
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Democratic Republic of Congo II, Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers
February 2004
A girl walks passed a Uruaguyan soldier at the entrance of the IDP camp in Bunia where a UN investigation found over 150 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse.
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Democratic Republic of Congo II, Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers
February 2004
To ensure their children are fed, girls as young as 12 are being forced to sleep with UN peace keeping soldiers in the IDP camp in Bunia.
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Democratic Republic of Congo II, Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers
February 2004
Extreme poverty in Congo’s camps and towns, along with massive displacement, has led many women and girls turning to prostitution to survive.
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Democratic Republic of Congo II, Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers
February 2004
Woman and girls like Chantalle, widowed by the war, are being forced to sleep with UN personnel in order to survive
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Democratic Republic of Congo II, Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers
February 2004
A house in Goma where five women and their children live. All the women have been displaced and widowed. They regularly sleep with UN employees to make a living.
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Democratic Republic of Congo II, Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers
February 2004
A young mother with her daughter in a tent they share with ten other families in the IDP camp in Bunia.
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Democratic Republic of Congo II, Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers
February 2004
A girl and her baby in the IDP camp in Bunia.
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Democratic Republic of Congo II, Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers
February 2004
A young girl in the IDP camp in Bunia.
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Democratic Republic of Congo II, Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers
February 2004
A woman, who regularly sleeps with UN personnel to make an income, holds her daughter whose father she doesn't know.
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