Haiti: UN peacekeepers sentenced for raping teenage boy
Published:Tuesday | March 13, 2012 | 11:49 AM
CMC – A Pakistani military tribunal has convicted two United Nations peacekeepers for raping a 14-year-old Haitian boy.
UN spokeswoman Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg said judges from a Pakistani military tribunal came to Haiti to hold the trial that resulted in the conviction last week of the peacekeepers from Pakistan.
They were found guilty in the rape of the boy in the northern city of Gonaives on January 20.
Haitian Justice Minister, Michel Brunache called the verdict for the two Pakistanis a "small" step in the right direction.
"We expected more from the UN and the Pakistani government, but now we want to focus on the proper reparation that the victim deserves," Brunache said.
The two unidentified soldiers were summarily discharged from the military and sentenced to a year behind bars in their homeland.
UN officials said it is the first time that members of the UN military on deployment in Haiti have been tried and sentenced within its borders.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission has faced a growing image problem in Haiti, with some of its members accused of responsibility for introducing a deadly cholera epidemic in earthquake-stricken country in 2010.
Several peacekeepers have also been accused of rape in cases that have fuelled public protests and demands that members of the UN force be stripped of their immunity and face trial in Haitian courts.