United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep concern" on Tuesday over a report on the under-reporting of child sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers and peacekeepers.
Ban is "deeply concerned" by the report, by the Save the Children UK charity, his spokesperson's office said in a statement.
"The abuse of children by those sent to help is a significant and painful issue and one that UN peacekeeping has and will continue to address candidly, comprehensively and robustly," the statement said. "Even one incident is one incident too many."
"The United Nations is committed to training and monitoring our civilian staff and working with our troop and police contributing countries to ensure that all categories of UN personnel are both trained in -- and are accountable for -- the highest standards of conduct," it said.
"We are determined to redouble our efforts in this regard and to work with all of our partners to implement fully our policy of zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel," the statement added.
The statement said the world body would continue to depend on the active efforts of countries contributing troops and police in investigating and disciplining their nationals found to have committed misconduct, including acts of sexual exploitation and abuse while serving in UN operations.
The report, released earlier Tuesday by Save the Children UK, shows that children living in conflict-affected countries fear to report sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeeping troops and humanitarian aid workers.
Children interviewed by the charity spoke of many different types of abuse, including trading food for sex, rape, child prostitution, pornography, indecent sexual assault and trafficking of children for sex.
The report reveals that the perpetrators of sexual abuse of children can be found in every type of humanitarian, peace and security organization, at every grade of staff, and among both locally recruited and international staff.