Bangui & Bria, Central African Republic — 'Victims are very afraid to talk about what they have experienced and don't know who to talk to.'
Women and girls in the Central African Republic are continuing to have their lives ruined by sexual abuse and exploitation committed by UN peacekeepers, and many are not reporting cases to the mission on the ground because they fear reprisals, don't know who to contact, or lack faith that action will be taken.
At a glance: Reporting gaps and continued abuse
- Peacekeeper sex abuse is rife despite prevention efforts from MINUSCA.
- Women said they aren't reporting their cases to MINUSCA because they fear reprisals, don't know who to contact, or lack faith that action will be taken.
- Some local NGOs that support survivors said they are also not reporting cases to MINUSCA.
- Investigations into past allegations involving hundreds of survivors have not been resolved.
- Assistance to survivors - from member states and the UN - remains limited.
A public UN database has recorded allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation against over 730 peacekeepers working for the UN mission in CAR (known by its acronym MINUSCA) since 2015, yet The New Humanitarian spoke to 19 women who have not reported abuse as well as civil society groups that said they are also not sharing claims despite recording a "constant" flow of new cases.
"If I haven't gone to see MINUSCA, it is because I don't know who to turn to, but also because I am afraid," said Jeanne*, a fruit and vegetable vendor who said she was raped by a Rwandan peacekeeper last year. "They say that their peacekeepers have come from their country to protect us, only to rape us, so what can we do?"
MINUSCA deployed to CAR in 2014 when an alliance of rebels called the Séléka ousted then-president François Bozizé, triggering widespread communal violence. Though the mission is credited for saving lives, its blue helmets have committed egregious cases of sex abuse that have destroyed lives and severely tarnished the mission's reputation.
In one case, dozens of women and girls came forward accusing Burundian and Gabonese peacekeepers of abuse and exploitation in a rural town. On another occasion, the UN was accused of failing to take action and stop the abuse of children by primarily French peacekeepers in 2013 and 2014, in the capital, Bangui.
Past investigations in 2018 and 2019 by The New Humanitarian showed how survivors of peacekeeper abuse in CAR received limited assistance from MINUSCA and partner organisations, and were let down by investigations that took too long and often discounted and discredited survivor testimonies.
The New Humanitarian's latest reporting - carried out in 2023 and 2024 and involving interviews with 19 survivors and half a dozen organisations and lawyers that support women - shows the devastating and enduring impact that abuse can have, and further underscores how the UN's "zero tolerance" policy for abuse and exploitation has failed to eliminate the problem.
The investigation revealed a lack of awareness among survivors of the channels that they can use to report cases, such as a toll-free telephone line, which means the scale of abuse and exploitation is likely to be significantly higher than has been officially documented by MINUSCA.
The investigation also found strained relations between MINUSCA and some local NGOs and lawyers that support survivors. They said they have stopped reporting cases to the mission because of past inaction, or criticised the fact that perpetrators are under the legal jurisdiction of their home countries, which have a patchy record on conducting timely investigations and taking appropriate disciplinary measures.
Malick Karomschi, the president of the Muslim Organisation for Innovation in Central African Republic, an NGO that is well known among survivors and has a large network across the country, said he has registered 313 cases involving MINUSCA since 2014 - 307 peacekeepers and six civilian staff - but has only referred 43 to the mission because of past experiences where he said cases weren't properly investigated.
In an interview last year, Karomschi said cases of abuse are "constant even in Bangui", and that many women choose not to report to the mission. "The victims think it is pointless when they talk to each other about it, and what can I tell them? It is not as if I can prove to them that MINUSCA can help."
Christian Saunders, the special coordinator on improving the UN's response to sexual exploitation and abuse, said that upwards of 90% of all sexual abuse and exploitation cases go unreported globally, and that peacekeeping missions are no exception. Saunders said MINUSCA has done a lot to improve awareness of how to report abuse but will "up our game" given the issues raised by The New Humanitarian.
MINUSCA declined a request for an interview with its top official, Valentine Rugwabiza, and instead sent answers via an unnamed spokesperson. The spokesperson said the mission has put "a lot of effort" into raising awareness of reporting and building trust with communities, and is committed to providing survivors with medical, psychological, and legal assistance, among other forms of support.
"The risk of misconduct remains high in MINUSCA, in part because of an environment compounded by many vulnerabilities, including poverty, illiteracy, varying levels of access to information and the normalisation of sexual and gender-based violence as well as limited access and a lack of basic public infrastructures, services, and institutions in certain areas," the spokesperson said.
Violent attacks
Women and girls face multiple struggles in CAR, where high levels of humanitarian need - nearly half the population needs assistance and one in five are displaced - have left many vulnerable to gendered violence and exploitation by peacekeepers and other armed forces, whether that's government soldiers, mercenaries, or rebels.
The humanitarian need is linked to war and a neglectful government, though the crisis has deeper roots: For over 200 years, CAR was the site of migration and displacement linked to slave raiding by nearby sultanates, and to the brutal French colonial period during which half the population perished.
Timeline: Peacekeeper sex abuse and exploitation in CAR
Of the 19 women interviewed, 10 said they were raped by peacekeepers between 2022 and 2023 - accounts corroborated by local NGO workers and though medical records - while others reported attacks from 2014 onwards. Women described cases of gang rape and incidents where peacekeepers threatened their lives if they did not comply. The allegations involved at least 36 peacekeepers.
Most of the alleged assaults were committed in provincial towns, though several happened in Bangui, where MINUSCA is headquartered. Several women cited perpetrators from Burundi, Cameroon, and Mauritania, which have been accused of sexual abuse in CAR on many occasions yet continue to contribute to the mission.
The women all described having their lives upended, with many forced to abandon their towns and livelihoods because of fear and community stigma. Some said they caught sexually transmitted diseases from abusers, while others said they had peacekeeper-fathered children who they have had to support alone.
Twenty-year-old Louna said she and her sister, who sold porridge on the streets of the northern town of Kaga-Bandoro, were gang raped in 2022 by six Burundian peacekeepers who said they were in her neighbourhood searching for a rebel. She said they identified the men by patches on their clothing.
"They broke into our house while my older sister and I were sleeping," Louna said. "I screamed so much that they held me by the throat to stop me from making any more noise." Louna said she was stigmatised by her neighbours after the attack and left for Bangui, where she is now struggling to support herself and her child.
Jeanne, the fruit and vegetable seller, said she was raped by a Rwandan peacekeeper who invited her to his Bangui base last year to calculate how much money he owed her after buying produce. "He told me: 'You are not going out today. You are coming with me.' He put a grenade on the table before saying: 'It's either sex or death,"' Jeanne said.
After returning home, Jeanne said she told her sister what had just happened. It didn't take long for the news to then spread, and she felt stigmatised. "These days, my neighbours insult me," she said. "I don't sell as much as I used to, and I don't dare to sell to the peacekeepers anymore, so it is becoming financially hard."
Twenty-eight-year-old Grace, who is from the northern town of Paoua, said she was offered a drink in her neighbourhood by four Rwandan soldiers on Valentine's Day last year. Ten minutes after taking the drink, she said she started feeling dizzy and blacked out. She said she then woke up three hours later with semen between her legs.
Grace's ordeal continued as her husband accused her of provoking the situation, and her neighbours called her the "wife of Rwandans". Unable to bear the abuse, Grace said she left Paoua with her two children and joined her grandmother in Bangui. "They say [the peacekeepers are] there to protect us, but you can see what they're doing," Grace said. "I lost everything and fled with my children, while they are left in peace."
The New Humanitarian also interviewed two women who said they were raped by Rwandan troops in Ndassima, a gold mining area where MINUSCA does not have a base. It is likely the soldiers were deployed through a separate bilateral partnership - whereby Rwanda supports CAR's government in exchange for mining concessions and land - and the cases are not therefore included in the 19 cited in this story.
The number of accusations against Rwanda - three women alleged abuse by six peacekeepers in addition to the two involving bilateral troops - dents Kigali's reputation for having disciplined troops, and underscores the partial picture provided by the UN database, which has recorded only two allegations involving Rwanda, despite it being the main provider of blue helmets in CAR.
The MINUSCA spokesperson said the mission has "a comprehensive strategy" to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse by its personnel. They said military contingents are regularly trained on prohibitions; commanders conduct surprise roll calls and have introduced checkpoints to limit opportunities for misconduct; and camps are laid out to mitigate risks, with attention given to water points, entry gates, and living conditions.
Why survivors don't report abuse: 'They threatened me with death if I spoke'
To help women report abuse, the MINUSCA spokesperson said the mission has set up local prevention and response committees composed of over 1,200 community members and leaders in 42 localities where peacekeepers operate. The committees work with the mission "to raise awareness on the issue and on how to report, and help facilitate victims' referral for assistance", the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that MINUSCA conducts awareness campaigns on misconduct and how to report it, through mission and local radio channels and SMS messages, and through in-person outreach activities in schools and among specific groups. To lodge a complaint, they said survivors can use a toll-free number or report through UN agencies and local and international NGOs in addition to the mission.
Still, of the 19 women interviewed by The New Humanitarian, none said they directly reported what happened to MINUSCA or knew how to make a complaint. The women interviewed were selected based on no prior knowledge of their cases except the time period that they said they were abused, so there was no bias towards those who might not have reported.
"Victims are very afraid to talk about what they have experienced and don't know who to talk to at MINUSCA," said the president of a local association that supports women who have survived sexual abuse. The president asked for their name and the name of their organisation not to be used to avoid jeopardising relations with the mission.
Jeanne said she approached two peacekeepers at the entrance of a Rwandan base in Bangui straight after she said she was assaulted there last year, wanting to explain what had happened and to ask for their help. "Both of them laughed at me and one of them just nodded," she recalled.
Jeanne said she did not know who to contact at the UN in the days that followed, and also felt afraid of approaching the mission. Instead, she said she sought help from Médecins Sans Frontières, who checked her for sexually transmitted diseases.
Though Jeanne has not reported her abuse to MINUSCA, she said she wants her story to be shared as widely as possible. "I don't think it is normal to do this, and I want to show the whole world what is going on here, what they are doing," she said.
Mary, who worked briefly as a cleaner at a MINUSCA base in the central town of Bambari, said direct threats of violence stopped her from reporting abuse after she was raped by two Mauritanian soldiers last year.
"They threatened me with death if I spoke," Mary told The New Humanitarian, adding that she is now ready to speak to the mission but does not know who to contact or how to make a report.
Maryame, a single mother and vegetable seller from the eastern town of Bria, said she wanted to lodge a complaint after being gang raped by Burundian soldiers last year but also did not know how to go about doing it. Maryame said she was discouraged by not knowing the names of the perpetrators, who she said raped several other women at the same time by a river where they were bathing. She said the peacekeepers accused the women of being rebel wives as a pretext to detain them.
Sarah, 32, who lives in a displacement camp by a MINUSCA base in Bria, said feelings of shame stopped her from reporting abuse. She said she had an exploitative relationship with a Zambian peacekeeper in 2020 to support her family after her husband had to flee the town. She said she became pregnant in 2021, by which time the peacekeeper had left.
"I haven't told anyone... and I don't want anyone to denounce me. I'm already too ashamed," Sarah said, explaining that people in her community who know what happened often insult her. "I'm scared and I don't want to go to court. I have a lot of worries, I'm losing weight... and I'm constantly afraid that people will criticise me."
Several other women from the same displacement camp shared similar accounts of exploitation and said they were also too ashamed to report the abuse. One woman said the exploitation of displaced women was rife in Bria and only stopped when Rwandan peacekeepers were deployed to protect the camp several years ago.
Though the women did not specifically mention the security situation as a barrier to reporting abuse and seeking help, aid workers and UN officials said continuous bouts of conflict over the past decade have created an environment where survivors find it difficult to come forward. This is especially the case for survivors who have been internally displaced or who live in increasingly militarised parts of the country.
In addition to the peacekeepers and bilateral Rwandan soldiers, the current government is supported by the Russian mercenary Wagner Group. It has helped the state expand its control in recent years - pushing rebel groups out of key provincial towns - yet operations have come at a major cost to human life, with Wagner and the army accused of killing civilians and committing sexual violence.
Frustrated NGOs: 'Nothing has been done and I never heard from them again'
The president of the local association that supports survivors said she and other local NGO leaders that she knows are also hesitant to report abuse to MINUSCA. She said they fear confidentiality breaches and that UN funding they receive might be cut, although The New Humanitarian was unable to assess how credible those threats were.
The president criticised MINUSCA for not following up on allegations they said they had collected from survivors of peacekeeper abuse and shared with the mission two years ago - both in writing and in a speech given at an "experience-sharing" meeting in Bangui.
"MINUSCA said they would come back to us after reviewing my testimonies, but since then nothing has been done and I never heard from them again," the president said. The New Humanitarian spoke to a second source who attended the same meeting and supported the president's account.
Fernand Djapou, of the Association of Lawyers for the Promotion and Protection of Children's Rights, said he struggled to find which section of MINUSCA to speak with when trying to support a women who said she was raped by Congolese peacekeepers several years ago. He said staff at the Bangui headquarters gave him several contacts but that people were either on leave or on mission outside the capital.
Karomschi, the president of the Muslim Organisation for Innovation in Central African Republic, said the 43 survivors he referred to MINUSCA several years ago had preliminary interviews but did not have their cases followed up on or receive any support.
Karomschi said Burundian investigators did eventually come to CAR several years later to interview some of the 43 survivors. But he said they showed them small photos of soldiers that were hard to identify, especially after so much time had passed.
"After this, they announced that they would close the files if the victims were unable to identify them," Karomschi said, explaining that he no longer reports abuse cases to the mission as a result of these experiences.
The MINUSCA spokesperson said the mission registers all cases that are brought to its attention in a database and maintains the confidentiality of survivors and third parties. They did not confirm or deny if they have a record or receiving cases from Karomschi.
Patchy assistance and 'unfair' referrals
The spokesperson said survivor assistance is a "priority" for the mission, and that it funds skills training and pays school fees for children born from peacekeeper fathers through its own programmatic funds and through a UN victims trust fund.
However, data provided by the spokesperson shows that out of the mission's $1.2 billion budget for 2023-2024, it dedicated only $384,100 (0.03% of its budget) to survivor assistance as well as an additional $251,168 received from the trust fund.
For medical, legal, and psychosocial support, the mission mostly refers cases to third-party organisations, including UN agencies and international and local NGOs and associations that operate in CAR.
The quality and availability of services varies according to where a survivor is living - there are fewer organisations in remote places - and depends on broader funding levels for gender-based violence programmes, which are under-resourced around the world.
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Previous reporting by The New Humanitarian in CAR and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo revealed deficiencies in the assistance given to survivors by organisations. Survivors described receiving brief courses in basket weaving and short group therapy sessions.
Three organisations that receive referrals from MINUSCA for legal and medical assistance expressed frustration that a mission with such a large budget cannot provide comprehensive assistance itself.
"Many of us feel that MINUSCA should be able to take care and pay for its own victims," said a senior official from a medical organisation that confirmed receiving referrals. They asked for anonymity to preserve good relations with MINUSCA.
A lawyer from a local association that provides legal support to women and child survivors of violence gave the same assessment, arguing that it is "unfair for an institution that has money like MINUSCA to pass on their cases to us".
"We are already overwhelmed by cases of sexual violence within the family, or caused by the [pro-government] forces and the rebels," said the lawyer who also asked for their identity and their organisation's name not to be revealed.
Asked why missions refer cases instead of providing comprehensive internal support, Saunders, the UN special coordinator, said it is because they do not want to "duplicate" the services already present in a country. He said missions also have budget's "micromanaged" by member states, adding that some recent requests by the UN's Victims' Rights Advocate office for more resources to support survivors in CAR have been denied.
Saunders said the UN is currently undertaking an independent assessment to find a sustainable way of funding sexual abuse prevention and survivor assistance programmes. "At present the ad-hoc nature of the funding is a significant constraint to our being able to effectively combat sexual abuse and exploitation globally and to providing the level of victim assistance that is warranted and that we would wish to provide," Saunders said.
A system that 'protects soldiers and rapists'
Local NGOs and lawyers also criticised the lack of accountability for alleged perpetrators of abuse. They are under the legal jurisdiction of their national authorities, whose willingness to investigate claims and take disciplinary action varies widely.
According to the UN misconduct database, of the 239 cases reported to MINUSCA since 2015 - the allegations involve 734 peacekeepers and 709 survivors - more than half remain pending, many after several years.
Investigations can be delayed or unfinished for various reasons - survivors may withdraw consent and witnesses can be hard to track down - though in many cases in the UN database troop-contributing countries did not deploy investigation officers, despite having primary authority for investigating their peacekeepers.
Only 69 peacekeepers since 2015 have, meanwhile, been jailed by their countries, according to the database. The database does not provide sentencing details, though Saunders said the UN does collect this data and is deciding on whether to include it and therefore make it public.
He said punishments often do not fit the crime: "I know, in some incidents, there was no jail term or minimal jail term and then they were just expelled from the military, and to my mind that doesn't constitute appropriate accountability."
Djapou, the president of the lawyers association, said not being able to prosecute peacekeepers in CAR - and not having the funds to travel abroad - makes it hard for local lawyers to support survivors. He said he tried to help 12 women between 2019 and 2020 but felt disempowered and ended up handing over the cases to a local NGO.
Djapou described the system for investigating and punishing peacekeepers as a "load of nonsense" that "protects soldiers and rapists". "Victims no longer come to see us because there is nothing we can do," he said.
All of the women who spoke to The New Humanitarian said they wanted justice and assistance. Many said they need money for their children's school fees, or to buy goods to restart businesses that collapsed while they dealt with the aftermath of the abuse.
Still, few women said they felt empowered to reach out to MINUSCA. "I don't want to see any more peacekeepers. They have traumatised me," said one of the women who was exploited at the displacement camp in Bria. "I don't know where to turn."
*The names of all survivors have been changed to protect their confidentiality and prevent reprisals.
Edited by - and with additional reporting from - Philip Kleinfeld.
