UN troops raping children in Liberia

LONDON -- Liberian girls as young as 8 are being sexually exploited by United Nations peacekeepers, aid workers and teachers in return for food, small favors and even rides in trucks, according to a report from Save the Children U.K.

The report says the problem is widespread throughout Liberia, which is struggling to get back on its feet after a long and bloody civil war.

Save the Children based its findings on interviews with more than 300 people in camps for displaced people and in neighborhoods whose residents have returned after being driven away by war. They told the same story, that men in positions of authority - aid workers and soldiers, government employees and camp officials - were abusing girls.

"All of the respondents clearly stated that the scale of the problem affected over half of the girls in their locations," the report says. "The girls reportedly ranged in age from 8 to 18 years, with girls of 12 years and upwards identified as being regularly involved in 'selling sex,' commonly referred to as 'man business.'"

In a statement from Liberia, the United Nations said that eight cases of sexual abuse and exploitation involving UN workers had been reported since the beginning of the year and that one staff member had been suspended, Reuters reported.

"It's unacceptable behavior," Jordan Ryan, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Liberia, said in an interview with BBC radio from Monrovia, the Liberian capital.

Save the Children said Liberia and the UN should set up an office to investigate cases of sexual exploitation and work to ensure that the behavior stops. The organization said that UN workers found guilty of sexual abuse should be removed by their home countries.