alternatehistory.com

OK, I saw a doco on DATELINE a few yrs ago which was all about Cambodia, which had become a disaster with a dictatorial Hun Sen regime & an AIDS epidemic in the aftermath of the UNTAC mission during 1992-93 (& which had been claimed at the time as a 'monumental success'). 1 of the major reasons of course for Cambodia being so badly hit by AIDS was due to the sexual promiscuity of many blue berets- esp from 3rd World countries, with the Bulgarians in particularly being notorious- which, together with Cambodia being so isolated from the outside world until that time, contributed to a massive AIDS outbreak- the UN response at the time was typified by Special Rep Yashushi Akashi who, when informed of reports of UN sexual misconduct, responded 'boys will be boys'. However, WI the UN had somehow, instead of adopting Akashi's blithely dismissive attitude, taken action at that early time to at least try to persuade its peacekeepers from contributor states to moderate their sexual behaviour ? Could such an early approach to sexual issues have potentially avoided or at least ameliorated the shocking record of blue beret/blue helmet sexual misconduct which has tarnished numerous UN PKOs over the last decade ?
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