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| U.N. Official to Visit Central African Republic Amid Scrutiny Over Peacekeepers | U.N. Official to Visit Central African Republic Amid Scrutiny Over Peacekeepers |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| UNITED NATIONS — The way the United Nations has handled sexual abuse allegations against peacekeepers in the Central African Republic has come under sharp scrutiny, including on the high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein. | |
| His office said on Friday that Mr. al-Hussein would make a three-day visit to the republic next week to meet with commanders and the new acting leader of the peacekeeping mission. “He will also review efforts to prevent human rights abuses and to ensure immediate and effective action whenever such abuses are committed by international forces,” his office said in a statement. | His office said on Friday that Mr. al-Hussein would make a three-day visit to the republic next week to meet with commanders and the new acting leader of the peacekeeping mission. “He will also review efforts to prevent human rights abuses and to ensure immediate and effective action whenever such abuses are committed by international forces,” his office said in a statement. |
| The peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic has been roiled by a series of sexual abuse allegations, including some involving children. The problems started before the United Nations mission was formally established there about a year ago: French troops who were sent to Bangui, the capital, to protect civilians were accused of sexually abusing boys over a period of six months beginning in December 2013. | The peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic has been roiled by a series of sexual abuse allegations, including some involving children. The problems started before the United Nations mission was formally established there about a year ago: French troops who were sent to Bangui, the capital, to protect civilians were accused of sexually abusing boys over a period of six months beginning in December 2013. |
| Mr. al-Hussain’s office uncovered those allegations. A report about the accusations was leaked to French diplomats, and Mr. al-Hussain suspended a staff member who was responsible for the leak, prompting complaints that Mr. al-Hussain had mishandled the inquiry. | Mr. al-Hussain’s office uncovered those allegations. A report about the accusations was leaked to French diplomats, and Mr. al-Hussain suspended a staff member who was responsible for the leak, prompting complaints that Mr. al-Hussain had mishandled the inquiry. |
| The staff member, Anders Kompass, has since been reinstated, and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has appointed an independent panel to review how the organization as a whole handled the matter. The panel’s report is due later this year. | The staff member, Anders Kompass, has since been reinstated, and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has appointed an independent panel to review how the organization as a whole handled the matter. The panel’s report is due later this year. |
| For his part, Mr. al-Hussein had criticized France for delays in investigating its own troops. France has said that it began its inquiry promptly, but it has yet to announce any charges. | For his part, Mr. al-Hussein had criticized France for delays in investigating its own troops. France has said that it began its inquiry promptly, but it has yet to announce any charges. |
| The problems seem to extend far beyond the French military contingent. The United Nations said that since the peacekeeping mission was established, it had received 13 separate reports of sex abuse and rape allegations in the Central African Republic, involving soldiers and police officers from Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Morocco. | |
| The scandal has been so damaging to the United Nations’s reputation that Mr. Ban took the rare step of dismissing the head of the peacekeeping mission, a former Senegalese general named Babacar Gaye, and sending a seasoned mediator from Gabon named Parfait Onanga-Anyanga to replace him on an acting basis. | The scandal has been so damaging to the United Nations’s reputation that Mr. Ban took the rare step of dismissing the head of the peacekeeping mission, a former Senegalese general named Babacar Gaye, and sending a seasoned mediator from Gabon named Parfait Onanga-Anyanga to replace him on an acting basis. |
| Mr. al-Hussein served in a United Nations peacekeeping force himself, during the 1990s wars in the Balkans, and then became a diplomat for his native Jordan; he took over the United Nations’s top human rights post last September. | |
| His office said that while he is in Bangui, he plans to meet with political leaders and representatives of civil society groups, and to address a seminar with a “call for accountability for all human rights violations.” | |
| The republic’s leaders have agreed to set up a special court to try serious human rights abuses in the country. | The republic’s leaders have agreed to set up a special court to try serious human rights abuses in the country. |
| Separately, another United Nations agency, Unicef, announced in Geneva that a militia in Central African Republic freed 163 children on Friday, some of the thousands who have been conscripted by various factions to serve as cooks, messengers, and in some cases combatants, The Associated Press reported. Ten armed groups agreed in May to stop conscripting children. |