Facing 'peacekeeper babies,' UN now offers DNA testing

Source: Associated Press

Facing 'peacekeeper babies,' UN now offers DNA testing
By CARA ANNA, Associated Press | June 13, 2015 | Updated: June 13, 2015 8:02pm

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. peacekeepers arrive; months later, some leave infants behind. Now the United Nations has quietly started to offer DNA testing to help prove paternity claims and ensure support for the so-called "peacekeeper babies."

It's a delicate step, as countries that contribute U.N. troops might not welcome a practice that could prove not only fatherhood but wrongdoing. Of the dozen paternity claims received last year, four were associated with alleged sexual abuse of a minor.

The new effort comes a decade after a groundbreaking report on sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers suggested that the U.N. secretary-general be authorized to "require DNA and other tests to establish paternity" so peacekeepers would be pressured to support the children they "father and abandon."

. . .

No one knows how many children have been fathered by U.N. peacekeepers over the decades in some of the world's most troubled places. About 125,000 peacekeepers are deployed in 16 locations, almost all in Africa or the Middle East. Sexual abuse and exploitation remains a problem, with little support available for victims.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Facing-peacekeeper-babies-UN-now-offers-DNA-6325264.php