(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
France is investigating claims its peacekeepers sexually abused children in the Central African Republic.
The allegations are made in a leaked internal United Nations report in which victims as young as eight say they were raped in exchange for food and money.
Brianna Roberts has more.
(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full report)
When French troops arrived in the CAR in 2013 following a coup, residents welcomed them, waving and cheering.
That welcome has turned to a sense of betrayal, amid allegations soldiers abused children at a refugee camp.
A refugee at the camp, Marie-Valentine says she feels sick thinking about it.
(Translated) "Every bit of me feels bad. They say they have come to help us, but they have actually hurt us. It's not what we wanted. It makes me feel uneasy, it makes me so angry."
The allegations have been made by about ten children and reportedly took place at a refugee camp near the airport of the capital Bangui between December 2013 and June 2014.
They claim they were abused after asking the soldiers for food or money.
French President Francois Hollande has promised if the claims are found to be true, there will be no mercy for those responsible.
(Translated) "I'm proud of our armed forces. We will show no mercy to those who've behaved badly, if that is the case, in the Central African Republic."
A Swedish aid worker employed by the United Nations, who is suspected of leaking the report, has been suspended.
Newspaper The Guardian is reporting worker Anders Kompass turned the internal report over to French authorities because the UN had failed to act to stop the abuse.
However the UN says he was suspended for failing to follow proper procedures - including removing the names of the victims, before releasing it
UN spokesman Farhan Haq says the UN and France want to make sure the allegations are properly investigated.
"There is a requirement to redact information that could potentially place victims, witnesses, investigators at risk. And what the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) is going to be investigating is how this information was handled by their side, so that their own system of these protections, which are also an important issue, are respected."
The French Defence ministry says it launched an investigation as soon as it became aware of the claims in July last year, and that the investigation is ongoing.
