UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- U.N. officials visiting Sudan met women and children who were angry the United Nations isn't doing more to protect them from sexual violence.
"When I went into the camps in Darfur, there was very much a hostility expressed toward the U.N., saying, 'Why are you not here? Why is nobody protecting us?'," Radhika Coomaraswamy, special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict, said at a press conference Thursday. "Off the bat, the first thing they talked about is sexual violence."
Coomaraswamy recently returned from a trip to Sudan. She said there is a security vacuum in the country, and that violence against women and children has resulted.
"Medical reports ... show there are still very high rates of sexual violence, especially in Darfur," said Coomaraswamy. "And, again, unless there's a proper security framework we will find this to be a problem."
On her visit, Coomaraswamy met with Sudanese government and military officials who said perpetrators of sexual crimes would be prosecuted. She also met with leaders of the various factions in the conflict, who agreed to provide training for their soldiers on sexual violence. The only group Coomaraswamy did not meet with is the Janjaweed, an Arab tribal militia linked to the central government.
The militias and Sudanese military also pledged to stop the recruitment and use of child soldiers and to allow UNICEF to monitor the situation, she said.
Even with commitments in place, it is difficult to protect children and women when "the social fabric has pretty much been destroyed," Coomaraswamy said.
