UN CALLS FOR ACTION AGAINST SEX ABUSERS

PFMLIT CONGO, General, INTERNATIONAL, MILITIAMEN, SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHERS IN POSITIONS OF TRUST, SOLDIERS, UN PEACEKEEPERS

Manhattan-based Human Rights Watch said that militiamen and renegade soldiers have raped and beaten tens of thousands of women and young girls in eastern Congo, and nearly all the crimes have gone unpunished by the country's broken judicial system.  Hundreds of new rapes are reported every week, but only 10 soldiers and militants have been convicted of the crimes since the end of the country's devastating five-year war in 2002.

The United Nations released a report on the sex abuse by its peacekeepers that recommended withholding salaries of the guilty and requiring nations to pursue legal action against perpetrators.  It describes the UN's military arm as deeply flawed and said abuse had been reported in Bosnia, Kosovo, Cambodia, East Timor, West Africa as well as Congo.