• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Some 200 women gang-raped near Congo UN base

24107

Banned
DP Veteran
Joined
Jul 6, 2010
Messages
2,809
Reaction score
824
Gender
Undisclosed
Political Leaning
Undisclosed
Rwandan and Congolese rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days within miles of a U.N. peacekeepers' base in an eastern Congo mining district, an American aid worker and a Congolese doctor said Monday.

Will F. Cragin of the International Medical Corps said aid and U.N. workers knew rebels had occupied Luvungi town and surrounding villages in eastern Congo the day after the attack began on July 30.

More than three weeks later, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo has issued no statement about the atrocities and said Monday it still is investigating.

Cragin told The Associated Press by telephone that his organization was only able to get into the town, which he said is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from a U.N. military camp, after rebels ended their brutal spree of raping and looting
Some 200 women gang-raped near Congo UN base - Yahoo! News
 
Africa has to be the most vicious place on Earth.
 
A lot of times in situations like this the UN peacekeepers are unable to leave their base or are actually explicitly prohibited from communicating with locals, for whatever reason. I was listening to NPR a few days ago and they were reporting on a massive increase in rapes at Hatian refugee camps (set up following the flood), some of which were directly adjacent to UN bases but were unable to assist because they were ordered not to even communicate with the locals.
 
Another example as to why the UN is a piece of **** organization.
 
A similar phenomena occurs in Bosnia with peacekeeping forces. The Russian mafia has set up brothels near peacekeeping bases. Within these brothels are Eastern European sex-slaves who have been kidnapped/trafficked by the mafia. Although the UN has conventions against human-trafficking, nothing is either said or done about them in Bosnia although everyone is keenly aware that the women have been trafficked and are oftentimes chained to the bed.
 
Africa has to be the most vicious place on Earth.
A lot of times in situations like this the UN peacekeepers are unable to leave their base--

A few years ago, there were instances of Pakistani UN peacekeepers themselves being behind some of the rapes in Congo.

The only surety is that minerals are the curse and boon of African nations while they are in such high demand from elsewhere.
 
Where there is war and conflict, such things happen. Blaming the UN or anyone else but the rapists is just lame and partisan bs.
 
Another example as to why the UN is a piece of **** organization.

The UN was never setup to be world police, so this comment is far off base.
 
Clearly not, which brings into question the existence of peace keeping soldiers under the UN.

They are there to serve a diplomatic function at the behest of the government. They don't function in lieu of a nation's own army or security forces.

Maybe you should look up what a peacekeeper actually does.
 
PeteEU said:
Where there is war and conflict, such things happen. Blaming the UN or anyone else but the rapists is just lame and partisan bs.

When UN Peacekeepers are completely incapable of keeping the peace you should know something is up. The idea that the UN is a "peacekeeping" force is a joke.
 
When UN Peacekeepers are completely incapable of keeping the peace you should know something is up. The idea that the UN is a "peacekeeping" force is a joke.

Have you not been paying attention?

It is their job to maintain safety parameters, especially around diplomatic installations; it is also their job to function as an interrim security force while delicate ceasefires are in place so that governments can direct their resources to other things. Their presence as neutral soldiers serves as a deterrent because combatants will tend to not fire on them lest they risk involvement of other counties.

Their function has never been to quel domestic violence and to serve as an auxillary security force to perform the duties of a nation's standing army or police force. They are only there temporarily and at the behest of the government. The name "peace keeper" misleads a lot of people into believing that it is their job to restore peace to entire nations, but that is NOT, I repeat NOT what they were created for.
 
They are there to serve a diplomatic function at the behest of the government. They don't function in lieu of a nation's own army or security forces.

Maybe you should look up what a peacekeeper actually does.

United Nations peacekeeping is a unique and dynamic instrument developed by the Organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict create the conditions for lasting peace.

Failed there.

The term "peacekeeping" is not found in the United Nations Charter and defies simple definition. Dag Hammarskjöld, the second UN Secretary-General, referred to it as belonging to "Chapter Six and a Half" of the Charter, placing it between traditional methods of resolving disputes peacefully, such as negotiation and mediation under Chapter VI, and more forceful action as authorized under Chapter VII.

More forceful action meaning sitting and watching.
Today’s peacekeepers undertake a wide variety of complex tasks, from helping to build sustainable institutions of governance, to human rights monitoring, to security sector reform, to the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants.

Well we know from this article alone that while these 200 women are getting raped by black men and there rights are being violated, the UN has done nada, because it is unable too for whatever political redtape BS. Which proves my point, that they are absolutely useless.

Not to mention they open the gates for anyone to enter there "peaceful enviournments" which soon turns into a bloody massacre (bosnia).

United Nations Peacekeeping
 
Last edited:
When UN Peacekeepers are completely incapable of keeping the peace you should know something is up. The idea that the UN is a "peacekeeping" force is a joke.

Dont blame the Peacekeepers, blame the moron politicians who set down a set of rules that make it impossible to actually help people. In fact, blame the US, UK, Russia, France and Chine since they set policy on what peacekeepers can and can not do.
 
UN Secretary-General 'Outraged' by Congo Rapes, Launches Investigation
24 August 2010

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he is outraged by the rape and assault of more than 150 women by armed militants in eastern North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr. Ban is sending a top U.N. official to investigate the attacks.

According to news reports, the rebel attacks took place between July 30th and August 3rd. The United Nations said it has a small peacekeeping base about 30 kilometers from the village. But according to spokesman Martin Nesirky, rebels blocked access of villagers to a nearby road and they could not report the attacks to outsiders. Nesirky said the peacekeepers learned of the rapes from a medical worker on August 12th, two weeks after they began.

The United Nations is providing medical help to the victims of the attacks.
Source: Voice of America

Every woman's nightmare.

I highly doubt the small UN force could have effectively interceded.
 
A lot of times in situations like this the UN peacekeepers are unable to leave their base or are actually explicitly prohibited from communicating with locals, for whatever reason. I was listening to NPR a few days ago and they were reporting on a massive increase in rapes at Hatian refugee camps (set up following the flood), some of which were directly adjacent to UN bases but were unable to assist because they were ordered not to even communicate with the locals.




And sometimes they are involved. :prof
 
Failed there.



More forceful action meaning sitting and watching.


Well we know from this article alone that while these 200 women are getting raped by black men and there rights are being violated, the UN has done nada, because it is unable too for whatever political redtape BS. Which proves my point, that they are absolutely useless.

Not to mention they open the gates for anyone to enter there "peaceful enviournments" which soon turns into a bloody massacre (bosnia).

United Nations Peacekeeping

You demonstrate again a complete and utter failure to understand what the function of the peacekeepers are, but I won't bother repeating the same points over again because you obviously aren't paying attention.
 
I'm trying to remember the exact quote from a movie, and it was a priest saying it so it may even be biblical in nature(I'm not sure), but it was something along the lines of "We should all fear evil men, but what we should fear more is the indifference of good men."

That certainley applies to this situation. What is more important, a list of rules that don't allow you to engage people partaking in violence against others? Or safeguarding the lives of those who are unable to defend themselves from such atrocities? We cannot profess to be a society that believes in human rights, and then say "oops, rape is occuring next door, can't do anything about it since its outside our AOR. That's believing in culture over humanity. I don't care if they are chartered "peacekeeping" forces that are defined by certain roles. As human beings, they should have prevented this.
 
I'm trying to remember the exact quote from a movie, and it was a priest saying it so it may even be biblical in nature(I'm not sure), but it was something along the lines of "We should all fear evil men, but what we should fear more is the indifference of good men."

That certainley applies to this situation. What is more important, a list of rules that don't allow you to engage people partaking in violence against others? Or safeguarding the lives of those who are unable to defend themselves from such atrocities? We cannot profess to be a society that believes in human rights, and then say "oops, rape is occuring next door, can't do anything about it since its outside our AOR. That's believing in culture over humanity. I don't care if they are chartered "peacekeeping" forces that are defined by certain roles. As human beings, they should have prevented this.

Unfortunately, national borders matter more to some people.
 
I'm trying to remember the exact quote from a movie, and it was a priest saying it so it may even be biblical in nature(I'm not sure), but it was something along the lines of "We should all fear evil men, but what we should fear more is the indifference of good men."

That certainley applies to this situation. What is more important, a list of rules that don't allow you to engage people partaking in violence against others? Or safeguarding the lives of those who are unable to defend themselves from such atrocities? We cannot profess to be a society that believes in human rights, and then say "oops, rape is occuring next door, can't do anything about it since its outside our AOR. That's believing in culture over humanity. I don't care if they are chartered "peacekeeping" forces that are defined by certain roles. As human beings, they should have prevented this.

So which part of "they didn't hear about it till 12 days afterward" is so hard to grasp?
 
UN peacekeepers 'failed' DR Congo rape victims[SIZE]
UN peacekeepers have "failed" the victims of mass rape in eastern DR Congo, a senior UN official has said.

Atul Khare told the Security Council that the scale of systematic rape by armed rebels was far worse than feared.

He said that up to 500 women and children were now believed raped in recent weeks - more than double the previously reported figure.

He called for the prosecution of Rwandan and Congolese rebels who are blamed for many of the attacks.

"At the same time a concerted response from the government, from the international community is needed to maintain pressure on the perpetrators of these rapes and to bring them to justice," he told the BBC's World Today programme.

Mr Khare, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, was sent to DR Congo by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to investigate the attacks in July and August.
BBC


Not that 500 is any better than the 200 of the main story. :(
 
The UN is one of the most worthless organizations on the planet. In many cases they do more harm than good.
 
The UN is only as effective as its Member States allow it to be and it is unfortunate that it is a victim of the shoddy hypocrisy of global politics.

When we criticise the UN we are criticising ourselves; another great idea poorly executed.
 
Back
Top Bottom