The United Nations has recently come under fire due to a report of sexual transactions between peacekeepers and Haitian women and girls. According to a report, U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti regularly exchange materials like laptops, food and medicine for sex.

Although the U.N. bans peacekeepers from exchanging employment and money for sex, many have disregarded this rule.

Since 2010, peacekeepers have maintained a ‘friendly’ presence on the island. Their main mission was to assist Haiti in both the cleanup after the earthquake as well as the rejuvenation of the country.

However, many have called into question how much progress they could have made, since many were exploiting the people they were supposed to be helping.

While this revelation is horrific, there is little prosecution for the peacekeepers committing these offenses. Typically, peacekeepers have immunity in countries in which they are serving.

This is not the first time the U.N. has come under fire for the sexual exploitation of country natives. In 2012, Kathryn Bolkovac published her remembrances of her trip to Bosnia in 1999.

In an interview with a reporter from The Telegraph, she spoke about how U.N. officers had exploited Bosnian prostitutes.

Because of the proximity of the release of the Red Cross Haiti scandal, many are questioning the Western presence in Haiti.

Is the West truly helping Haiti, or are they making the country’s economic and social situation worse?

– Erin Logan

Sources: The Telegraph, Al Jazeera, RT,
Photo: Women Under Siege