TROOPS suspected of fathering “peacekeeper babies” should be forced to undergo paternity tests and pay child support as part of a series of measures to control sexual abuse and “aberrant behaviour”, the UN recommended yesterday.

The UN report, proposing steps to crackdown on sexual misconduct, follows outrage over dozens of complaints about UN personnel in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which have led to the suspension of six UN civilian staff, the repatriation of sixty-six peacekeepers, and the prosecution in France of a French logistics expert allegedly caught with a 12-year-old girl.

An international organisation examining the sex trade in Congo reported last year that at least 82 women and girls had been made pregnant by Moroccan peacekeepers and 59 more by Uruguayan soldiers on UN duty there. An investigation by The Times found that at least two UN officials had to leave the country after getting local women pregnant.

Sexual exploitation has also plagued a number of UN missions. The UN has 66,918 peacekeepers and 4,143 civilian staff serving in 16 missions around the world.

Presenting the proposals yesterday, Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, said that the unconscionable conduct of a few individuals had done great harm to peacekeeping.

The report, prepared by Prince Zeid Raad Zeid alHussein, Jordan’s UN Ambassador, said that the UN received a total of 105 allegations against all staff in total.

Almost half the complaints involved under-age sex with people under the age of 18 — the UN-prescribed age of consent — and another third related to prostitution; but 13 per cent of the charges alleged rape.

Peacekeeping troops are subject to the jurisdiction of their own country, whose courts often do not have the jurisdiction or means to try cases committed abroad.

Prince Zeid recommends that troop-contributing countries should hold “on-site” courts martial of peacekeepers accused of abuse.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Indian Army spends10m rupees on golf buggies
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating