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The research team, led by Sabine Lee, a professor at the University of Birmingham, and Susan Bartels, a clinician-scientist at Queen’s University in Ontario, did not directly ask the people they interviewed about sexual relations with peacekeepers or children born through those relations. The interviewees brought those issues up on their own, the researchers said.

One woman is quoted describing “a series of females 12- and 13-years-old” who were impregnated by Minustah personnel, leaving them “in misery with babies in their hands.”

Another simply said: “They put a few coins in your hands and drop a baby in you.”

We cannot accept this

The report implicates U.N. personnel from 13 countries, the majority of which were from Brazil and Uruguay, according to the report. Canada ranked seventh. It suggests the soldiers were typically repatriated to their countries of origin when the pregnancy became known, leaving the mothers with no assistance afterward. The findings have renewed cries from advocacy organizations who have previously said the United Nations should do more to help the Haitian victims.

In response to the report, the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations said it took the allegations seriously. Combating the sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrated by peacekeepers is one of the group’s top priorities, it said in a statement.

“We have unfortunately seen cases involving MINUSTAH peacekeepers over the past years, although allegations have been generally declining since 2013,” the statement said. “Our approach puts the rights and dignity of victims at the forefront of its efforts to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse.”