The Peace Corps' inspector general says she can't oversee the agency properly without access to sex-assault records it refuses to hand over. Since 2008, Peace Corps Inspector General Kathy Buller has led internal investigations that have led to 21 criminal convictions for crimes such as rape, attempted rape, abuse of minors, embezzlement, theft and possession of narcotics. Buller charged the Peace Corps with [hindering] her office's oversight efforts, and said the agency was not fully disclosing its sexual assault reports. In 2011, [ABC News] reported that more than 1,000 female Peace Corps volunteers have been raped or sexually assaulted in the past decade, and that some victims felt the agency either sought to cover up incidents or treated victims with insensitivity. The murder of Peace Corps volunteer Kate Puzey in Benin seized public attention in 2011. The volunteer was found dead after she reported her suspicions that a Peace Corps contractor was sexually harassing students at the school where she taught. Less than a year after her death, Congress passed reforms to protect whistleblowers like Puzey and to improve the agency's sexual assault practices. But even after Puzey's murder, sexual assault still remains a problem for the Peace Corps and the thousands of volunteers they send abroad.
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