MORE than 1,700 UN peacekeepers have been accused of raping the vulnerable people they're supposed to protect.

A disturbing documentary on Channel 4 called UN Sex Abuse Scandal at 10.30pm exposes what went on and the victims’ fight for justice.

3 UN peacekeepers at the Guatemalan military base in Sake Credit: AFP - Getty

What are the allegations against UN peacekeepers?

Thousands have come forward to say they were victims of sex crimes carried out by UN peacekeepers.

UN peacekeepers have been dogged by over 1,700 separate sex crime accusations in the past 15 years.

While there has been condemnation of high-profile abuse cases, there are fears that sexual violence against children has become endemic in areas where peacekeepers are supposed to be the ones enforcing the law.

Despite the high number of reported cases - and the many more which are thought to go unreported - only 53 uniformed peacekeepers have ever been sent to jail for sexual offences.

The documentary reveals decades of alleged abuse have resulted in victims being abandoned without justice and the perpetrators walking free.

3 Abigail, from the Congo, claims she became pregnant after being raped by a UN peacekeeper Credit: AP:Associated Press

Appearing in the programme, UN official Anthony Bambury, who resigned in protest after a series of abuse cases came to his attention, said: "The reality is that today there is no guarantee of criminal accountability for someone who commits rape inside a UN peacekeeping mission.”

Sex abuse claims against peacekeepers have been levelled from all corners of the developing world, but the heart of Africa has been shown to be the focal point of much of the violence.

The UN has recorded 194 paternity claims against its peacekeepers since 2010, and the problem is so endemic that the UN set up a trust fund for children born to rape.



Was there a child sex ring in Haiti?

UN peacekeepers have been implicated in a child sex ring in Haiti.

Both boys and girls as young as 12 have been claimed to have been caught in in the ring.

One girl, known only as V01 – Victim Number One – told UN investigators “I did not even have breasts” and said that over a three year period, aged from 12 to 15 she had sex with nearly 50 peacekeepers.

An investigation of UN missions during the past 12 years found nearly 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and other personnel around the world.

More than 300 of the allegations involved children.

3 There have been more than 1,700 UN peacekeepers of rape and sexual assault on the people they were meant to be protecting Credit: Getty - Contributor

most read in world news Exclusive 'NIGHTMARE' Terrified BA crew detained in 'prison camp' Covid quarantine in Hong Kong ESCO-BUCKS! Pablo Escobar's nephew finds £14m in cash stashed in wall of drug lord's house 'MUST ACT NOW' France sees highest daily covid infections as 16,096 test positive in a day LASHED TO BITS Paedo collapses as he’s caned 52 times after being sentenced to 169 lashes JOHNNY ROTTEN Cops seize 324,000 used condoms being washed & sold as NEW in Vietnam raid CREEPY CRAWLERS Dozens of horrifying 3ft-long robber crabs invade family's campsite BBQ

In Haiti, at least 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers exploited nine children in a sex ring from 2004 to 2007, according to an internal UN report, seen by the Associated Press.

After the wake of the report, 114 peacekeepers were sent home. None was ever imprisoned.

In one case, a teenage boy said he was gang-raped in 2011 by Uruguayan peacekeepers who filmed the alleged assault on a mobile.

Dozens of Haitian women also say they were raped, and dozens more had what is euphemistically called “survival sex”.