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Disturbing the peace
‘Dateline’ uncovers violence committed by U.N. peacekeepers
Jan. 11 — They are charged with some of the most
crucial work on earth. For 50 years, United
Nations peacekeepers have been deployed
around the globe to put food into the hands of
the starving, to protect refugees from the bullets
of warring factions, to alleviate suffering and to
stop torture. But now, “Dateline” has uncovered
evidence that some of the violence has been
committed by the peacekeepers themselves.
Here’s “Dateline NBC” correspondent Lea
Thompson with a disturbing report about abuse
of the powerless.
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Hot zones for peacekeepers worldwide
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‘These Somalis
were being hunted
by these men. I
remember hearing
the troops yell “I
got one!”’
— KYLE BROWN
Former U.N. peacekeeper
THEY’RE CALLED “blue helmets,” peacekeepers
from the United Nations, sent into hot spots all over the
world. Their work is hard. They stop fighting, deliver
food and medicine, protect human rights and it’s
dangerous. More than 500 blue helmets have been
killed in action in the last 50 years.
These heroic soldiers have even won the Nobel
Peace Prize and all of us pay for this good work.
Although the U.S. owes money to the U.N., American
taxpayers still kick in more than $200 million a year for
peacekeeping.
But the noble goals of the United Nations aren’t
always carried out by its peacekeepers. “Dateline NBC”
has found that some of these very same soldiers who are
supposed to be protecting civilians have instead been
accused of committing terrible crimes against them:
everything from child prostitution to smuggling drugs
and weapons, torture, rape, even murder. And what may
be worse, critics say the U.N. is doing very little to stop
it. A result: crimes of war, committed by soldiers of
peace.
Conflicts and peacemakers: Hot zones
where U.N. or other peacekeeping forces are
already engaged or may soon be.
For example, in the African nation of Somalia,
peacekeepers on a U.S.-led mission were so brazen they
actually took pictures of their atrocities — trophy
photos — as souvenirs. Italian peacekeepers snapped
away as they pinned a man to the ground and allegedly
shocked his genitals with wires from a radio generator.
Other Italian peacekeepers took photos as they
bound a woman to an armored truck and allegedly
raped her with a flare gun. Peacekeepers from Belgium
were photographed roasting a boy over an open fire. A
witness said the boy went into shock after his clothes
caught on fire. The soldiers were acquitted of torture
after the child couldn’t be located. The peacekeepers
claimed it was just a game to discourage the boy from
stealing.
AN INCREASING PROBLEM
‘It’s become
worse recently,
because U.N.
peacekeeping has
happened in much
greater scale and
volume.’
— JOHN HILLEN
Former U.S. peacekeeper
And these are only some of the cases we know
about because peacekeepers took trophy photos.
Experts say many more cases of wrong doing still
haven’t come to light. “Not only were these soldiers
committing these extraordinary crimes, but they’re
actually documenting their crimes themselves,” says
John Hillen, a former peacekeeper for the U.S. He’s
now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies who has written extensively on
peacekeeping and believes in it.
Hillen points out bad soldiers from many armies
have abused civilians. And he says the number of U.N.
peacekeepers who have committed crimes over the past
50 years is small, but he says in recent years, incidents
have increased greatly.
“It’s become worse recently, because U.N.
peacekeeping has happened in much greater scale and
volume,” says Hillen.
Former UN peacekeeper Kyle
Brown says when desperate
Somalis tried to steal their
food, some peacekeepers in
his unit turned violent.
Kyle Brown was a
peacekeeper, an elite Canadian
paratrooper sent to Somalia on a U.S.-led mission. Part
of his job was to help the starving people of Somalia.
But Brown says that when desperate Somalis tried
to steal their food, some peacekeepers in his unit turned
violent. “That seemed to be the only language that they
understood, violence. You know, these people lived and
died by violence,” he says.
Brown also says his commanders had issued orders
to “rough up” the locals — even had the soldiers set out
food and water for “bait” to lure hungry Somalis into
shooting range.
Lea Thompson: “You used the term ‘turkey
shoot.’”
Kyle Brown: ”Yes. These Somalis were being
hunted by these men. I remember hearing the troops
yell ‘I got one!’”
The peacekeepers tied up a 16-year-old Somali boy
at a weapons bunker — nicknamed “the pit” — who
had been hanging around the compound.
Brown says the corporal who was supervising him
blindfolded the boy, bound his legs, and tied his hands
behind his back.
According to Brown, the corporal kicked the boy,
then beat him with a baton and a lead pipe. Soldiers
later testified the beating continued for hours and more
than a dozen different peacekeepers came by to watch
and some even joined in, including Brown.
Image: Kyle Brown
In all, more than 80 soldiers heard the boy’s
screams, and no one came to his rescue.
But peacekeeper Brown did pull out his camera and
take pictures. He says it was his corporal’s idea.
A medic later found cigarette burns on the
teenager’s feet and genitals and evidence that he was
raped with the peacekeepers’ baton. After hours of
torture, the boy finally died.
Lea Thompson: “As you watched him do this, you
knew it was wrong.”
Kyle Brown: “I knew it was wrong.”
Thompson: “You knew it was beyond the rules?”
Brown: “Yes, and at the same time the reality was
he was under orders to do what he was doing.”
Thompson: “So you stood back?”
Brown: “I stood back. It wasn’t a conscious effort,
it wasn’t something I consciously tried to do.”
When it found out about the murder, Canada’s
military brought criminal charges against the
peacekeepers. Brown was sent to prison for 20 months
for torture and manslaughter. His corporal tried to hang
himself and never stood trial. The entire unit was shut
down.
FEW ARE PROSECUTED
But John Hillen says that kind of crackdown on
peacekeepers is rare. “We may think that an egregious
offense has been committed and the soldier may just get
slapped on the wrist by national authorities and sent
home, if that,” says Hillen.
Nicolas Dieuvit says he was
pinned down by three U.N.
peacekeepers and tortured in
broad daylight.
Consider the case of
Nicolas Dieuvit, an itinerant
worker in Haiti who at one time was a mechanic in the
U.N. compound there.
Last winter, Dieuvit went to the compound where
he says he asked some of the peacekeepers there —
who were from Pakistan — for wood. There was an
argument. Dieuvit says the soldiers started beating him
with fists and rifles. He wasn’t armed, and says that in
order to protect himself he threw rocks at them.
Dieuvit says the peacekeepers grabbed him, tied his
hands behind his back and strung him up to a mango
tree. He says they beat him bloody for seven hours.
Lea Thompson: “Did you scream?”
Nicolas Dieuvit: “Yes, I screamed. The whole time
I was screaming. But every time I screamed, they beat
me harder.”
Dieuvit also says, while he was pinned down, three
of the peacekeepers gang-raped him in broad daylight.
Dieuvit insists a U.N. major stood by and watched the
torture.
Image: Nicolas Dieuvit
Lea Thompson: “This major, did he try to stop
them?”
Nicolas Dieuvit: “No not at all... He just laughed.”
Thompson: “The major laughed?”
Dieuvit: “Yes. He said I would die inside the camp.
He said today is your last day, you’re going to die.”
‘We may think
that an egregious
offense has been
committed and the
soldier may just
get slapped on the
wrist by national
authorities and
sent home, if
that.’
— JOHN HILLEN
Former U.S. peacekeeper
The peacekeepers later turned Dieuvit over to the
Haitian police, who photographed bruises all over his
body.
U.N. SAYS IT WAS DIEUVIT’S FAULT
But the U.N. says its two investigations tell a
different story. It says Dieuvit was part of a belligerent
group that started the fight and that a rock he threw
injured a peacekeeper on the head. Ambassador Julian
Harston is in charge of the U.N. mission in Haiti. “I’ve
seen the pictures. I’m not an expert in that kind of
picture. I was fairly horrified looking at the pictures I
have to tell you. But the inquiries suggest that
reasonable force was used,” says Harston.
Dieuvit was brought by police to Haiti’s largest
hospital. Doctors there issued a medical certificate
concluding that Dieuvit was the victim of “rape and
abuse.”
But the U.N. says there’s no conclusive proof
Dieuvit was raped and the medical report was “flawed”
because the hospital didn’t conduct sophisticated tests.
Ambassador Harston says, “There were no blood
tests made. The report, it is quite clear, was written by
two separate people. The report was unsigned.”
But in fact, the report was signed by doctors and an
administrator of the Lesions Tramatique hospital.
Though they can’t identify the assailants, the doctors
and the Haitian police told “Dateline” there was
physical evidence of rape.
Of course, no one knows for sure exactly what
happened except for Dieuvit and the peacekeepers
themselves.
But we do know that Dieuvit and his lawyer never
got to question those peacekeepers in court. Neither did
the Haitian police. That’s because under international
law, soldiers have immunity from prosecution by
anyone other than their own government.
So, just three days after their fight with Dieuvit, the
peacekeepers were allowed to end their tour of duty and
fly back to Pakistan.
And what did the Pakistani government do? Just
like the U.N., it investigated — and cleared — its own
soldiers of both rape and unreasonable force.
Lea Thompson: “Do you see anything wrong with
that?”
Julian Harston: “No. I think you have to go along
with the system that exists. Who would you ask to do it,
if it weren’t for the people who were closely involved?”
NO TIME FOR TRAINING
But critics say there’s a problem in the system —
training.
The U.N. does show peacekeepers training tapes.
But it doesn’t have the money to give soldiers any basic
training. Instead, it trains only their commanders,
relying on the countries that supply the troops to
prepare them. But many peacekeepers come from
developing nations that don’t have the resources to train
them properly.
All they [peacekeepers] really get from the U.N.
are little wallet cards: a “code of conduct” with rules
like don’t abuse alcohol or drugs or threaten anyone.
Despite that, the U.N. argues allegations of
peacekeeper misconduct are largely unsubstantiated.
Crimes are rare and isolated and the vast majority of
soldiers do a good job. Colonel Peter Leentjes says,
“99.9% of all troops are very well disciplined, are well
looked after, and look after the people that they are
protecting very well.”
Leentjes is head of training for U.N. peacekeepers.
He is the first to admit there are flaws.
Lea Thompson: “The U.N. has no real screening.”
Peter Leentjes: “Correct.”
Thompson: “It has no real training.”
Leentjes: “Correct.”
Thompson: “And it cannot punish.”
Leentjes: “Absolutely correct.”
Thompson: “When you don’t have any of those
things, aren’t you asking for problems?”
Leentjes: “No more than I think the normal inter-
relationship the international community would
generate. This is an imperfect business.”
U.N. ADMITS PROBLEMS
In fact, he and the U.N. admit peacekeepers have
had serious problems with child prostitution, drug
dealing and running brothels. “Larceny, racketeering,
black marketeering, smuggling, prostitution, these sorts
of things, but done in a very systematic and organized
fashion,” says Hillen.
In Bosnia, more than 20 peacekeepers were kicked
out for theft and corruption. Nearly four dozen others
were sent home after allegedly abusing mental patients
at a hospital. Peacekeepers from Canada were accused
of beatings, rape and sexual abuse of a handicapped
teenage girl.
Canadian peacekeepers who were sent to Africa
made their own home movies. Among them, a corporal,
who admits he was a neo-Nazi. Canada did take action
against its troops. It kicked one peacekeeper out after he
returned from Somalia. It reprimanded 22 other soldiers
and expelled two officers who were in Bosnia.
The Italian military also has disciplined 12
peacekeepers for abusing civilians in Somalia. But, it
has filed no criminal charges against soldiers who are
accused of rape and electrocution. Five years later,
Italian authorities tell “Dateline” they are still
investigating.
Both countries and Belgium tell “Dateline” they’ve
strengthened controls on their soldiers to avoid future
problems. But a military court in Belgium let
peacekeepers go free. Even the country’s defense
minister was outraged. Experts say that’s not unusual,
that even terrible crimes by peacekeepers are often just
set aside and forgotten. “The fact that we’re only
prosecuting the tip of the iceberg because we have hard
evidence is worrying, because I’m not sure how we’re
going to fix the problem,” says Hillen.
So, if the U.N. can’t screen, can’t train and can’t
punish its peacekeepers, does it at least keep track of
the crimes they commit, just to make sure the worst
never take the field again?
“Dateline” asked the U.N. for statistics on crimes
by peacekeepers. There aren’t any. The U.N. doesn’t
even track the problem.
Lea Thompson: “Shouldn’t somebody do that?”
Peter Leentjes: “Oh yeah. Somebody should do
that.”
So in the end, despite all the good work
peacekeepers do, the U.N. acknowledges the only real
check it has on its bad soldiers is the honor system.
Lea Thompson: “It all boils down to trust?”
Peter Leentjes: “Of course.”
Thompson: “Is that good enough?”
Leentjes: “It has to be. It’s the only thing we’ve
got.”
After “Dateline” began asking questions, the U.N.
told us it will now try to start keeping a record of crimes
by its peacekeepers. Incidentally, “Dateline” got a first-
hand look at how dangerous these missions can be:
Barely 24 hours after arriving in Haiti, correspondent
Lea Thompson and our staff were car-jacked at
gunpoint and robbed. Most of their camera equipment,
tapes and notes were taken.
They had to leave the country with an armed escort
from the U.S. embassy after officials told us it was too
dangerous to stay. The embassy told us someone didn’t
want “Dateline” to report a story, criticizing officials
there.
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