The UK military is failing to enforce its “zero tolerance” ban on sexual exploitation abroad, with campaigners claiming soldiers stationed overseas are regularly paying for sex and raping and abusing local young women.
An investigation by openDemocracy has found that not a single serving personnel was found to have paid for sex or otherwise “engaged in sexual exploitation and abuse” since it was banned under the military’s Zero Tolerance Policy in November 2022.
The policy was introduced after allegations of murder, rape and sexual abuse by UK troops in Kenya. It states that troops stationed abroad “are prohibited from undertaking transactional sex at all times”, adding: “Transactional sex is a form of sexual exploitation … because the use of sex workers will frequently be exploitative.”
