NEW YORK (voa) – The United Nations refugee agency is sending a team to West Africa to investigate allegations of widespread sexual exploitation of young refugees by aid workers.
The U.N. team will visit Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia after a study found evidence that nearly 70 aid workers for 40 agencies have exploited child refugees, mostly girls.
The study, commissioned by the British relief group Save the Children and the U.N. refugee agency, indicates that aid workers – most of them local – have provided food, medicine and other services to refugees in exchange for sex.
The initial findings of the study were released Tuesday.
In a statement Wednesday, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan repeated a policy of zero tolerance for anyone employed or affiliated with the United Nations who is responsible for child abuse.
The spokesman said Mr. Annan is shocked and disturbed at the child abuse allegations. He said the secretary-general intends to act forcefully and quickly if the allegations are confirmed.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by conflicts spilling across the borders of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Many of the displaced survive only through the help of aid agencies.
