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AFRO-NETS> A condom a day for UN troops
A condom a day for UN troops
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News from IPPF 3/22/00:
UN PLANS TO GIVE CONDOMS TO TROOPS Worried by the threat of AIDS among
UN peacekeepers, the UN has decided to distribute a condom a day to
each of the 16,000 male troops it plans to send to Congo and Sierra
Leone this year. The decision is the closest the UN has ever come to
acknowledging that UN troops around the world provide a market for sex
work and the trafficking of women, and are in danger of contracting
HIV.
The deployment of relatively highly paid soldiers to impoverished coun-
tries has turned UN bases into magnets for brothels ranging from tents
and wooden hovels to permanent structures, some with dozens of women,
according to US and UN officials, the Washington Post reports (March
18).
The issue is sensitive not only because it involves sexual mores, but
also because diplomats fear that if peacekeepers are seen to be at risk
of contracting AIDS, countries may hesitate to contribute troops and if
they are seen as spreading AIDS, war-torn countries may hesitate to ac-
cept them.
Condoms are expected to cost $10 per peacekeeper a month, or nearly $2
million a year for the peacekeeping forces in Congo and Sierra Leone.
The programme may be extended to other mission in the future, UN offi-
cials said.
SOURCE: The Washington Post, March 18 2000
Cecilia Snyder
mailto:[email protected]
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