French President Francois Hollande is promising tough punishment for any soldier found guilty of sexually assaulting children in Central African Republic.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday in western France, Hollande said any sanctions should correspond to the gravity of the crime and “set an example.”
Authorities in France are investigating allegations that French soldiers sexually abused a number of children during a C.A.R. peacekeeping mission.
The French government “was made aware at the end of July 2014 by the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights of accusations by children that they had been sexually abused by French soldiers,” the defense ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
