Corrupt UN Update

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse:

A United Nations inquiry has found that UN peacekeepers working in DR Congo sexually abused girls as young as 13.

The report by the UN watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, investigated abuse allegations in the north-east Congolese town of Bunia.

The probe found a pattern of sexual exploitation of women and children, which it said was continuing. . .

It found seven cases against UN staff, all but one of them peacekeepers, involving sexual exploitation of under-age girls, were fully substantiated.

Meanwhile, the UN's it's-only-money scandal widens:

Investigators from the House International Relations Committee said several current and former officials in Iraq's Oil, Health and Transportation ministries have told them that U.N. staffers assigned to the "661 Committee" — the U.N. Security Council group that oversaw sanctions and approved oil-for-food contracts — regularly took bribes and kickbacks from suppliers of aid to Iraq during the program.

The Iraqi ministry officials said the U.N. staffers, based in New York, were paid to accelerate approval of oil-for-food contracts or provide secret information on why certain suspicious contracts with Saddam Hussein's regime were blocked by the 661 Committee, investigators said.

News that more U.N. officials may be involved in corruption is the latest revelation to rock the United Nations, where Secretary-General Kofi Annan is fending off calls for his resignation in the aftermath of history's biggest financial scandal in which Saddam is alleged to have ripped off $21.3 billion.

(via LGF)

My reaction? I can't improve on Chris Muir's:


Day by Day's take on UN tsunami relief (click to enlarge)