UNITED NATIONS, May 8 (UPI) -- Aid workers, peacekeepers and others are trading money and favors for sex with young girls in Liberia, a recent report concludes.
Save the Children released a report Monday on its investigation late last year into sexual abuse among humanitarian workers in Liberia. The organization conducted focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with women and young girls in four internally displaced persons camps and four communities to which former IDPs had recently returned.
In every camp and community, the international organization found, older men had talked young girls -- usually at least 12 years old, but sometimes as young as eight -- into having sex in exchange for basic food items like bulgur wheat or cornmeal, hair care products and perfumes, cell phones, even a single bottle of beer.
The report also said families rely on "transactional sex" to bring "access to things such as food, or money to purchase food."
The report argued the steps the international community has taken in the four years since the issue garnered widespread attention have not been successful.
United Nations Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. Mission in Liberia has "a number of investigations currently going on."
"Any violations of these policies are being looked into," he said. "Obviously, we would like to see a situation where none of these cases exist."
Dujarric said reports of sexual abuse to the U.N. mission have been dropping since Save the Children's initial interviews were completed. The mission said in a statement that eight cases have been reported since January. One has been substantiated by the accused abuser; the others are under investigation.
