A United Nations report has found that peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia barter goods for sex with women and children.
The findings of the report suggests that 480 sexual exploitation and abuse claims were made between 2008 and 2013. About a third of the allegations have been made by children.
U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon has ordered a review of complaints made against soldiers.
The document by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) says it has found that hundreds of women in Haiti and Liberia have been motivated by hunger and poverty to sell sex. They are paid with cash, jewellery, mobile phones and other items.
Having got access to the document, the Associated Press reported that 231 people in Haiti interviewed last year told they had had “transactional sex” with peacekeepers.
“In cases of non-payment, some women withheld the badges of peacekeepers and threatened to reveal their infidelity via social media,” AP quotes the U.N. document.
The U.N. has 125,000 peacekeepers deployed around the world. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon has already moved to take vigilance of the matter, commissioning a review into the complaints.