Senior British soldiers stationed in Kenya are forcing recruits to have unprotected sex with prostitutes as an "initiation rite," putting them at risk of sexually transmitted infections, British media revealed.
The new recruits are reportedly subjected to an initiation process where they must decide whether to use a condom or not by flipping a coin.
"The more senior soldiers would flip a coin – heads you could use a condom, tails you could not," the report detailed, citing findings from the BMJ Military Health.
The report also said that while sexual health guidance is provided on arrival in the East African country, the number of soldiers seeking help for co-morbidities has increased compared to UK-based troops.
The risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease from a prostitute cannot only reduce a unit's operational effectiveness, but also poses a "global reputational risk," the report, written by the Defense Medical Service, added.
The BATUK contingent in Kenya consists of approximately 100 permanent staff and a replenishing cohort of 280 short-term personnel.
The unit is seen to be responsible for numerous serious atrocities that have sparked public condemnation in Kenya.
One high-profile case was the brutal murder of a 21-year-old Kenyan woman, Agnes Wanjiru, allegedly committed by British soldiers. The lifeless body of Wanjiru, the mother of a two-year-old daughter, was found in a septic tank in Nanyuki in 2012. She was last seen alive with a British soldier. In 2021, one of the soldiers in the unit allegedly confessed the murder to his comrades, but no one has been prosecuted for the crime since then.
Moreover, BATUK has also been accused by the locals of killing and injuring people and livestock with unexploded bombs during military training exercises in reserves and communities.