Now that the fact that peacekeeper troops have sex with local women has been publicized, there’s more pressure on the UN to end, or at least regulate, the practice. The latest complaints come from Ivory Coast, where Moroccan peacekeepers are accused of having sex with local teenage girls. . . .
The UN would like the entire matter to go away. There is already a shortage of peacekeepers, and broadcasting the fact that sexual activity will be monitored by civilian aid workers does little to encourage troops to volunteer.
Alas, the troops can’t emulate this solution: “The foreigner aid workers often have sex with local women, but more frequently they do so with each other. That’s safer, given all the AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases going around. But the peacekeeper units tend to be all-male, and generally from countries where homosexuality is not tolerated.”