African Union military soldiers are allegedly gang raping and sexually abusing women and girls as young as 12 in Somalia, Al Jazeera reported.

The information comes from report by the Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit and nongovernmental organization, which was released Monday.

"Some African Union soldiers have misused their positions of power to exploit Somalia's most vulnerable women and girls. Somalia has many intractable problems, but the Somali and AU leadership could end sexual exploitation and abuse by pressing troop-sending countries to hold abusers responsible," said Liesl Gerntholtz, women's rights director at Human Rights Watch.

HRW reports the soldiers from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which is a peacekeeping mission by AU military, are abusing the women on their bases in Mogadishu.

The report documents abuse since 2013 which involved coercion of the women seeking humanitarian aid, medical aid or water at the camps into sexual activity.

At least 21 women were interviewed and described their experiences with the Ugandan or Burundian military personnel who belong to the army of the AU -- a union of 54 states in Africa.

The 22,000-person AMISOM force is made up of soldiers from six nations, and has been fighting alongside Somali government troops against the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab armed group since 2007. Troops in AMISOM are also from the United Nations, European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, Al Jazeera reports.

The 71-page report by HRW, titled "The Power These Men have Over Us," documents 10 incidents of rape or sexual assault and 14 cases of sexual exploitation, the youngest of which was of a 12-year-old girl being raped by a soldier.

"Some of the women who were raped said that the soldiers gave them food or money afterwards in an apparent attempt to frame the assault as transactional sex or discourage them from filing a complaint or seeking redress," according to HRW, Al Jazeera reported.

AMISOM commander and Burundian General Silas Ntigurirwa told Al Jazeera the troops were given strict orders against raping and looting.

AMISOM spokesman Eloi Yao said, the "allegations will be properly investigated and measures taken."