DAKAR, Senegal (AP) – A U.N. fund to help victims of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and U.N. staff has now grown to $1.5 million following contributions from 10 more countries including Sri Lanka, whose troops were implicated in a child sex ring in Haiti.
Critics called the fund “tiny” and said it would only provide general support services rather than payouts to individual victims.
The U.N. Department of Field Support made the announcement Wednesday in New York, a week after a special session was held on the sidelines of the annual General Assembly to address the scourge of sexual violence by U.N. staff and peacekeepers in missions around the world. It was the most detailed accounting to date made public about the fund’s contributors.
The new contributions to the trust fund, which had previously been estimated at about $500,000, will initially be used to boost services for victims in Congo, according to the announcement. Projects are also expected in several of the other countries with high numbers of allegations: Central African Republic, Haiti and Liberia.
“These contributions reinforce the Secretary-General’s clear commitment to putting the rights and dignity of victims first,” it said.