Charity: Aid workers raping, abusing children

This is a article from CNN back in May of 2008, I feel that I really needed to post it on my site today.

By Stephanie Busari
For CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Humanitarian aid workers and United Nation peacekeepers are sexually abusing small children in several war-ravaged and food-poor countries, a leading European charity has said.

Children like this 15-year-old girl have suffered abuse at the hands of some UN soldiers and aid workers.

Children as young as 6 have been forced to have sex with aid workers and peacekeepers in return for food and money, Save the Children UK said in a report released Tuesday.

After interviewing hundreds of children, the charity said it found instances of rape, child prostitution, pornography, indecent sexual assault and trafficking of children for sex.

"It is hard to imagine a more grotesque abuse of authority or flagrant violation of children's rights," said Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK. Watch a report on the abuse »

In the report, "No One To Turn To" a 15-year-old girl from Haiti told researchers: "My friends and I were walking by the National Palace one evening when we encountered a couple of humanitarian men. The men called us over and showed us their penises.

"They offered us 100 Haitian gourdes ($2.80) and some chocolate if we would suck them. I said, 'No,' but some of the girls did it and got the money."

Save the Children says that almost as shocking as the abuse itself is the "chronic under-reporting" of the abuses. It believes that thousands more children around the world could be suffering in silence.

According to the charity, children told researchers they were too frightened to report the abuse, fearful that the abuser would come back to hurt them and that they would stop receiving aid from agencies, or even be punished by their family or community.

"People don't report it because they are worried that the agency will stop working here, and we need them," a teenage boy in southern Sudan told Save the Children.

The charity's research was centered on Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, but Save the Children said the perpetrators of sexual abuse of children could be found in every type of humanitarian organization at all levels.

Save the Children is calling for a global watchdog to tackle the problem and said it was working with the U.N. to establish local mechanisms that will allow victims to easily report abuse.

"We are glad that Save the Children continues to shed a light on this problem. It actually follows up on a report that we did in 2002 with Save the Children. I think every population in the world has to confront this problem of exploitation and abuse of children," said Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland.

"The United Nations has a zero-tolerance policy. It's one that UNHCR takes very, very seriously. In refugee camps, we have implemented very strong reporting mechanisms so that refugees can come forward to report any abuses or alleged abuses."

In 2003, U.N. Nepalese troops were accused of sexual abuse while serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Six soldiers were jailed.

A year later, two U.N. peacekeepers were repatriated after being accused of abuse in Burundi, and U.N. troops were accused of rape and sexual abuse in Sudan.

Last year, the U.N. launched an investigation into sexual abuse claims in Ivory Coast.

The vast majority of aid workers were not involved in any form of abuse or exploitation but in "life-saving essential humanitarian work," Save the Children's Whitbread said.

But humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency situations "must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on," she said.

The aid agency said it had fired three workers for breaching its codes and called on others to do the same. The three men were dismissed in the past year for having had sex with girls aged 17, which the charity said is not illegal but is cause for loss of employment.

Other UK charities said they supported Save the Children's call for a global watchdog.

"Oxfam takes a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct by its aid workers. All our staff across the world are held accountable by a robust code of conduct," said Jane Cocking, Oxfam charity's humanitarian director.

"We support Save the Children's calls for a global watchdog. We will do all we can to stamp out this intolerable abuse."

Disabled man pleads guilty to sex abuse in Niagara County

By Thomas J. Prohaska - NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU

LOCKPORT — A developmentally disabled man who has been deaf since birth pleaded guilty to three felony counts of child sexual abuse last week.

Christopher L. Eckert, who has been in a state psychiatric institution for the past five years, is expected to be spared prison time, although the maximum penalty for his offenses is 21 years behind bars.

Instead, he is likely to be placed on probation and committed to a state mental health facility, Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza said Thursday. She scheduled sentencing for Dec. 18. In the meantime, Eckert signed a voluntary commitment order.

Eckert, 38, formerly of Limehouse Drive, Clarence, communicated with Sperrazza through American Sign Language used by his court-appointed attorney, Thomas Caserta Jr., and an official interpreter.

Caserta said Eckert reads at no more than a first-grade level and is “unable to perform daily tasks.” Despite that, he graduated from St. Mary’s School for the Deaf in 1991.

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth R. Donatello said Eckert was ruled competent to stand trial earlier this year after almost five years of treatment by staff from the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

Eckert touched the private parts of three girls under the age of 11 in Niagara Falls and North Tonawanda.

“I did it. It’s my fault,” Eckert said. He pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct against one girl for a series of incidents between January 1999 and September 2001. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse for single incidents with two other girls, both on March 22, 2003.

Eckert was indicted in June 2003 and arraigned in July of that year. By September 2003, Sperrazza had committed him to an institution.

Caserta said doctors concluded that Eckert’s brain damage and deafness were caused in the womb, because his mother contracted rubella, also known as German measles, while she was pregnant.

Sperrazza said there were many lengthy conferences in her chambers with Donatello, Caserta and state mental health officials, trying to resolve the case appropriately. The judge said Eckert is likely to be assigned to some type of residential facility.

Eckert, who wore a coat and tie to court, said through the interpreter that he would like to go home and see his brother. Not being allowed to do so “hurts my heart,” he said.

Salem man sentenced to 75 years prison for sex abuse involving child younger than 12

October 16, 2008

A 36-year-old man will spend the remainder of his life in prison for three convictions of sexual abuse involving a child.
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Francisco Almanza-Garcia, 36, received 75 years in prison on Tuesday from Marion County Circuit Judge John Wilson.

Almanza-Garcia's sentencing comes under Oregon's "Jessica's Law" that went into effect April 2006.

The law mandates that class A felony sex offenses involving a child under 12 carry a 25-year minimum sentence.

Almanza-Garcia was convicted of two counts of first-degree rape and one count of first-degree sodomy involving a child under the age of 12, said Marion County Deputy District Attorney Nicole Theobald, who prosecuted the case.

Almanza-Garcia knew the child before the offenses occurred, Theobald said.

Almanza-Garcia received consecutive sentences for each of his three counts, Theobald said.

In November 2007, Michael David Robinson of Salem received 138 years in prison under the same law for eight convictions of sexual abuse involving two young children.

Almanza-Garcia was indicted Aug. 7, 2007, and pleaded not guilty Sept. 11, 2007.

He was found guilty after a one-day trial Sept. 11 in front of Wilson.

Federal immigration charges also are pending against Almanza-Garcia, jail documents show.

Almanza-Garcia is from Mexico and had been living in the Salem area for less than a year, according to his attorney Mark Obert.

Man is jailed for child sex abuse

Colin Houghton, 40, of Hackworth Street, Ferryhill, committed "very serious" offences against a young girl, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Houghton was found guilty after a trial last month of 11 charges of indecent assault, sexual activity with a child and attempted rape.

He has been ordered to register as a sex offender for life and banned from living with children under 16.