UN report exposes sex exploitation

Women, minors in need of daily necessities paid by peacekeepers with money and goods

Members of a UN peacekeeping mission engaged in "transactional sex" with more than 230 Haitian women who said they agreed so they could obtain items such as food and medication, a sign that sexual exploitation remains significantly underreported in such missions, according to a new report.

The draft by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services looks at the way the peacekeeping service, which has about 125,000 people in some of the world's most troubled areas, deals with the persistent problem of sexual abuse and exploitation.