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» babble   » current events   » international news and politics   » "Peacekeepers" abusing children

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Stargazer
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6061

posted 27 May 2008 03:46 AM      Profile for Stargazer     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I removed the quotes from around the words abusing children. I find these quotes in the headline to be extremely offensive. Anyways, here is some of the article:

quote:
Children as young as six are being sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid workers, says a leading UK charity.

Children in post-conflict areas are being abused by the very people drafted into such zones to help look after them, says Save the Children.


While some Peacekeepers are managing to limit themselves to girls of 17, others are not. Like this:

quote:
A 13-year-old girl, "Elizabeth" described to the BBC how 10 UN peacekeepers gang-raped her in a field near her Ivory Coast home.

'Elizabeth' tells the BBC about her abuse

"They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me... I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing," she said.

"I was terrified. Then they just left me there bleeding."

No action has been taken against the soldiers.


No action taken against the soldiers. None. Read the rest here, including the weasal words spoken by
UN spokesman, Nick Birnback.

"Peacekeepers" sexually absung boys and girls


From: Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged
bigcitygal
Volunteer Moderator
Babbler # 8938

posted 27 May 2008 04:23 AM      Profile for bigcitygal     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
From Dark Threats and White Knights by Sherene Razack:
quote:
Peacekeeper violence mimics colonial violence in its inversion between stereotypical representations and actions. The alleged savagery and cannibalism of the colonized requires savage responses to keep such people under control. These representations of the savagery of brown and black men confirm the superiority of the white men.

I've said it before: Soldiers, also known as peacekeepers, rape women and children. They use power and force to abuse the vulnerable, to assert themselves and to simply rape whoever they want.

That's pretty horrible isn't it? If it's been going on for so long why hasn't someone put a stop to it, one may ask.

Because rape is part of war, and has always been part of war. Peacekeeping is part of war / colonialism and imperialism.

The White Man and His Burden: Racism and Peacekeeping. Abstract of an article by Sherene Razack
The full article is accessed only by subscribing.

Dark Threats and White Knights: The Somalia Affair, Peacekeeping and the New Imperialism by Sherene Razack

Review of Dark Threats and White Knights

UN opens inquiry into peacekeeping sex abuse charges, May 22 2008, Democratic Republic of Congo

[ 27 May 2008: Message edited by: bigcitygal ]


From: It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent - Q | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged
It's Me D
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 15152

posted 27 May 2008 05:06 AM      Profile for It's Me D     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Peacekeeper violence mimics colonial violence in its inversion between stereotypical representations and actions. The alleged savagery and cannibalism of the colonized requires savage responses to keep such people under control. These representations of the savagery of brown and black men confirm the superiority of the white men.

While I don't disagree with the above statement (and the myriad of cited articles focusing on white imperialst/rapists) I think this reasoning is weakened by conflating all Imperialism with racism (a tool therein). Most UN peacekeepers are not white, in fact this thread's title article actually refers specifically to instances where peacekeeper/rapists were not white (such as the Nepalese). The problem of dehumanizing people in the places where peacekeepers are stationed is not purely racial, to suggest that is I think in a way to fall victim to it (suggesting only those races CAN be dehumanized seems a lot like dehumanizing them). Racism make dehumanization easier but it is imperialism and capitalism that provides the motive and stands to gain, whether the peacekeepers raping people in conflict zones in the name of "peace" are white or not. So I don't disagree with the argument, I just think it stops short of saying that non-white peacekeepers are being used as a tool to dehumanize others (which dehumanizes them as well) and which keeps us whites far away from the whole situation with our "humanity" intact and with the profits of imperialism rolling in.

Sorry if I rambled a little there; I hope I won't be quoted later as saying the opposite of what I meant.


From: Parrsboro, NS | Registered: Apr 2008  |  IP: Logged
bigcitygal
Volunteer Moderator
Babbler # 8938

posted 27 May 2008 05:14 AM      Profile for bigcitygal     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
It's Me D, I hear your point. The problem is that as far as I can tell, nobody else has written about this, and Sherene writes from the perspective of the Canadian context.

Btw, in the book "Dark Knights" we find two of the Canadian peacekeepers on trial for various violent offences, one is FN and one is a man of colour. Her analysis emcompasses this reality of violence perpetuated in the name of racism and imperialism, from these two (and other) Canadian peacekeepers, but it doesn't extend to places where the UN uses peacekeepers from the same regions, as in DRC or the Ivory Coast as in the OP. Nonetheless we can agree that power and dominance is part of the role of peacekeepers, and the voices of the dominated are mostly silenced.


From: It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent - Q | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged
It's Me D
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 15152

posted 27 May 2008 05:40 AM      Profile for It's Me D     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Nonetheless we can agree that power and dominance is part of the role of peacekeepers, and the voices of the dominated are mostly silenced.

Absolutely; and personally I find it even more abhorrent when third world forces are used to silence the voices of their own brothers and sisters for our benefit. We should at least have to do our own oppression but most people who benefit are protected from it by the use of intermediaries; I guess that's what we call "progress" from the old colonial era.

Even the forces of first world countries are drawn from minority and impoverished groups therein, as you mentioned, so they to act largely as intermediaries, oppressing people who are closer to them (despite being around the world) then their capitalist masters are here at home.


From: Parrsboro, NS | Registered: Apr 2008  |  IP: Logged

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