URUGUAY APOLOGIZES OVER ALLEGED HAITI SEX ASSAULT

URUGUAY APOLOGIZES TO HAITI
FOR ALLEGED SEX ABUSE

Montevideo (AFP) - Uruguay’s president has apologized or the “outrage” carried out by peacekeepers accused of sexually assaulting a young Haitian man and vowed the “maximum penalty” for anyone found guilty. The soldiers, who were based in southern Haiti, stand accused of raping an 18-year-old man in the small coastal town of Port-Salut. Video footage of the alleged attack on a Uruguayan base has been circulated on the Internet. “I come at this terrible time to offer you and the dear and heroic people of Haiti my apologies for the outrage that some soldiers of my country committed,” Uruguay’s President Jose Mujica said in a letter. “I share your sadness, which I feel as my own,” he said, adding that authorities would investigate and apply the “maximum penalty” to those responsible. 

Uruguay’s defense minister had earlier admitted that the incident had caused “a lot of damage” to the armed forces, which provide around 2,400 peacekeepers worldwide, mostly in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  The five peacekeepers accused of sexual assault must be tried in their home country for any crimes allegedly committed during their deployments abroad.  Haitian President Michel Martelly has condemned the alleged attack and demanded a detailed report on the exact circumstances of the incident, according to his office.  Martelly has also requested a meeting between Haitian officials and UN mission staff so that “measures can immediately be taken to ensure that such acts do not reoccur,” his office said in a statement. On Monday, hundreds of people demonstrated in Port-Salut to demand justice for the alleged victim, while some Haitians have asked for the UN mission - in the country since 2004 - to be shut down.

Several hundred Haitians demonstrated Monday in support of an 18-year-old man who says he was sexually assaulted by peacekeepers from Uruguay on a U.N. base along the southern coast of Haiti. Uruguay’s President Jose Mujica has apologized to Haiti for alleged sex abuse involving his country’s peacekeepers in the Caribbean nation, and promised that those responsible will receive the maximum penalties.  It is said that the UN mission - formed to help maintain peace - has already committed other anti-social actions in Haiti.  When it comes to sex and violence, heartless and lustful men do not distinguish between male and female.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

For the practitioner of devotional service, dhairya - patience  - is extremely necessary. Those who possess the quality of dhairya are called dhira, sober. Due to lack of this quality, men become restless. Those who are impatient cannot do any work. By the quality of dhairya, a practitioner controls first himself and then the whole world. ... There are six types of urges: namely, the urges of speech, mind, anger, belly, tongue, and genitals. ... The urge of the genital is formidable for persons who are averse to the Lord. In the Shrimad Bhagavatam (11.5.11) it is said: “In this material world the conditioned soul is always inclined to sex, meat-eating, and intoxication. Therefore religious scriptures never actually encourage such activities.” ... Persons who are filled with attachment for material enjoyment can never tolerate the urge of the genital.

Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thākura :
“Śrī Bhaktyaloka: Illuminations on Bhakti”
“Six Qualitis That Enhance Bhakti” - Dhairya Patience
Translated by Bhumipati Dasa