If prostitution is illegal in Bosnia, then why — in the
presence of some 20,000 NATO peacekeepers and thousands of other
U.N. officials, policemen and aid workers — has sexual
trafficking in the region become an international scandal?
One answer may be that the United Nation's police force may
be turning a blind eye or, even worse, participating in the sex
trafficking itself. It certainly seems that, as the scandal
emerges, the corruption reaches upward into the United Nations.
Last summer, American Kathryn Bolkovac, a former Nebraska
police woman, was fired from the U.N.'s International Police
Task Force. Bolkovac claims it was because she spoke out against
the United Nation's involvement in sex trafficking. Through
interviews with 85 women coerced into sex, Bolkovac learned that
U.N. officers were not only using the women for sex but also
seemed to be active in the business end — for example, the
forging of documents to transport young girls across national
borders.
The young girls are from desperately poor nations like
Romania. Many reportedly answer ads for "legitimate" work only
to be kidnapped, taken across borders and enslaved in brothels
that operate with the full knowledge of the local authorities.
After Bolkovac advised various U.N. officials about the sex
ring, IPTF Deputy Commissioner Mike Stiers decided that Bolkovac
was psychologically worn out. Although an extension of her
contract had been recommended prior to the e-mail, she was
transferred to a suburb of Sarajevo, then fired. Bolkovac
stated, "Those responsible ... did not want to hear about this."
Douglas Coffman, a spokesman for the United Nations in
Sarajevo, denied the accusation, but Bolkovac is the not the
first to hurl it. Stories of
U.N.
corruption were already
appearing in the European press. David Lamb, a former
Philadelphia policeman working as a U.N. human rights
investigator in central Bosnia, leveled even more serious
charges. He provided evidence that IPTF members were directly
linked to forcing girls into prostitution. Most prominently, he
named two Romanian officers who sold women directly to brothels.
Lamb filed his findings. He found that "the opposition of the
central [U.N.] Mission Headquarters was unbelievable."
The
Washington Post reported on what happened next. "The
United Nations quashed an investigation ... into whether U.N.
police were directly involved in the enslavement of Eastern
European women in Bosnian brothels, according to U.N. officials
and internal documents."
Another difficulty in assessing the situation is that U.N.
officials do not admit that anything is amiss. When asked about
Lamb's allegations against the Romanian officers, Jacques Klein
— the U.N. secretary general's special representative to Bosnia
— declared, "I have absolutely no evidence, no record, and I'm
unaware of any internal investigation into any alleged
misconduct involving a Romanian police monitor."
A few weeks later, confidential U.N. documents revealed that
Lamb had notified several U.N. officials about the two
Romanians. Moreover, after Lamb departed, a Canadian officer,
the Romanian government and an anti-corruption unit of the
United Nations investigated the case in turn. Rosario Ioanna,
the Canadian, issued a report similar to Lamb's, complaining
that local U.N. authorities tried to close down the
investigation. Yet the United Nations refuses to allow the
Romanian policemen to be interviewed.
Subsequent U.N. investigations appear to be cosmetic. For
example, an inquiry was instigated but, according to the Post,
investigators didn't bother to contact Lamb or other
whistleblowers. Not surprisingly, the inquiry found insufficient
grounds to probe further.
The character revealed by the United Nations in Bosnia is
particularly significant today. The agency is pushing hard to
become a global government. In March, the U.N.'s High Level
Panel of Financing Development will meet in Mexico and endorse
recommendations that are expected to include: a World Taxing
Authority, global taxes on fossil fuel and/or on all currency
exchange and U.N. supervision of all international finance.
As the United Nations pushes for jurisdiction over the globe,
it is important to remember how it has acted in Bosnia. The
character of an institution, no less than of an individual, is
revealed through actions, not words. It is revealed in the small
behaviors. Such as the willingness to watch or participate in
the selling of young girls into the living hell of Bosnian
brothels.
The U.S. is the most powerful force opposing the United
Nations. If America refuses to meet U.N. demands — and, as yet,
the U.S. has not even paid its U.N. fees — then worldwide
government will fail. If U.N. policy in Bosnia is a microcosm of
what globalization would look like, then an autonomous and
dissenting U.S. becomes the hope of the world.
