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Report Criticizes U.N.’s Handling of Child Sex Abuse Allegations Report Criticizes U.N.’s Handling of Child Sex Abuse Allegations
(about 4 hours later)
UNITED NATIONS — An independent panel investigating how the United Nations handled allegations of child sexual abuse by peacekeepers issued a scathing report Thursday, saying officials passed the allegations “from desk to desk, inbox to inbox” and failed to meet the organization’s own “core mandate to address human rights violations.” UNITED NATIONS — An independent panel has concluded in a scathing report issued Thursday that United Nations officials passed allegations of child sexual abuse by peacekeepers “from desk to desk, inbox to inbox” and failed to meet the organization’s core mission to protect the rights of the most vulnerable civilians.
The report criticizes United Nations officials for their inaction after uncovering allegations that French soldiers sent to the war-torn Central African Republic in 2014 were offering young boys food in exchange for sex. The officials failed to take steps to protect the children, offer them medical attention or ensure that the perpetrators were identified and punished, the report said. Instead, it said, United Nations officials at various levels obscured the allegations and focused on the conduct of one senior staff member who had leaked the information to the French authorities. The report grew out of evidence that French soldiers deployed in the Central African Republic had offered food to children as young as 9 in exchange for sex. In one of the most damning indictments of the United Nations system, the report found that its officials had “turned a blind eye to the criminal actions of individual troops,” and failed to protect or aid the child victims.
“In the absence of concrete action to address wrongdoing by the very persons sent to protect vulnerable populations, the credibility of the U.N. and peacekeeping operations are in jeopardy,” the panel said in its 111-page report. Instead, the 111-page report said, United Nations officials at various levels obscured the allegations and focused on questioning the conduct of one senior staff member who had leaked the information to the French authorities.
The panel was appointed this year by the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, who was infuriated when he learned of the claims and how they had been handled. In a highly unusual step, he dismissed the head of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic, a veteran Senegalese general named Babacar Gaye, who is sharply criticized in the panel’s report for an “abuse of authority.” “In the absence of concrete action to address wrongdoing by the very persons sent to protect vulnerable populations, the credibility of the U.N. and peacekeeping operations are in jeopardy,” the panel’s report said.
In a written statement, Mr. Ban said, “I express my profound regret that these children were betrayed by the very people sent to protect them.” He said he would “act quickly” to determine what to do about any United Nations officials found to have abused their authority. The report raises broader questions about the organization’s willingness and ability to hold accountable its own staff and troops deployed to protect the most desperate people in war zones around the world.
The three-member panel was led by Marie Deschamps, a former Canadian judge. Sexual abuse allegations have dogged United Nations missions for years, despite promises of zero tolerance. Even in the Central African Republic, after these allegations against French soldiers came to light, United Nations peacekeepers have been accused of sexually abusing civilians.
The abuse is alleged to have occurred from December 2013 to June 2014 near a densely crowded camp for displaced people in the capital, Bangui. Six boys, ranging from 9 to 15 years old, told United Nations investigators that French soldiers had offered food in exchange for oral sex. The allegations in the Central African Republic in particular implicate the very arm of the organization responsible for safeguarding civilians’ rights: the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
France has said it is investigating the conduct of the accused soldiers. So far, no arrests have been made. In early December, French officials said four troops were being questioned. The report was issued amid at least two other serious scandals confronting the United Nations in the final year of the 10-year tenure of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The information was leaked to the French by Anders Kompass, director of field operations for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva; he was briefly suspended, only to be restored to his post by an internal tribunal. In October, the Antiguan diplomat who headed the General Assembly in 2013 and 2014 was charged in a multimillion-dollar corruption scheme; he has pleaded not guilty. And in November, Mr. Ban’s mediator for the long-running Libya conflict was implicated in an apparent conflict of interest, after he accepted a job funded by a country that had backed one Libyan faction.
The panel was critical of the human rights commissioner Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, who removed Mr. Kompass from his job for having leaked the report with the children’s names. The panel faulted him for what it called “a single-minded determination to pursue an investigation” of Mr. Kompass. But the panel said Mr. Al-Hussein’s actions did not “rise to the level of an abuse of authority.” The United Nations’ handling of the child sexual abuse allegations, however, is by far the most damaging to its reputation.
“The welfare of the victims and the accountability of the perpetrators appeared to be an afterthought, if considered at all,” said the report of the three-member independent panel led by a former Canadian judge, Marie Deschamps. “Overall the response of the U.N. was fragmented and bureaucratic, and failed to satisfy the U.N.’s core mandate to address human rights violations.”
Mr. Ban, who appointed the panel, said in a written statement, “I express my profound regret that these children were betrayed by the very people sent to protect them.” He said he would “act quickly” to determine what to do about any United Nations officials found to have abused their authority.
The abuse is alleged to have occurred from December 2013 to June 2014 near a camp for displaced people in the Central African Republic’s capital, Bangui. United Nations investigators uncovered evidence that six boys, ranging from 9 to 15 years old, had been sexually abused by French soldiers.
The panel faulted the United Nations mission chief, Babacar Gaye, saying he had not taken the evidence seriously. “He turned a blind eye to every opportunity he had to intervene,” Ms. Deschamps said Thursday at a briefing with reporters.
Mr. Gaye, a retired Senegalese general, was dismissed by the secretary general last August.
The panel also faulted an aide to Mr. Gaye, who at the time was the top human rights officer in Bangui. The aide, Renner Onana, still works for the mission in the Central African Republic, though in another capacity. What disciplinary action will be taken against him, if any, is unclear.
From the start, the scandal has revolved around a senior official in the United Nations human rights office in Geneva, Anders Kompass, who leaked the abuse allegations to French officials in July 2014.
Many months later, he was suspended by his boss, the high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who said he had violated the organization’s protocols. The suspension was short-lived. He was restored to his post.
The panel was critical of Mr. Hussein’s actions. It faulted him for what it called “a single-minded determination to pursue an investigation” of Mr. Kompass. But the panel said Mr. Hussein’s actions did not “rise to the level of an abuse of authority.”
Mr. Hussein’s response to the panel, in an annex to the report, signaled a tense relationship with his subordinate. In his reply, Mr. Hussein repeatedly said he was shocked that Mr. Kompass had divulged the identities of the children without their consent.
On Thursday, in a written statement issued after the report was released, Mr. Hussein did not directly respond to the panel’s criticism of his actions. He said that “it’s extremely important” for the United Nations system broadly to “strengthen and accelerate its responses to all types of human rights violations.”
Mr. Kompass was exonerated by the panel.
The panel blamed a raft of other officials for having failed to take action, singling out the official who was responsible for internal oversight of the United Nations bureaucracy. The panel said that official, Carman Lapointe, who had served as undersecretary general for Internal Oversight Services until recently, had not been impartial in her inquiries about Mr. Kompass’s actions.
The panel was highly critical, too, of the special representative for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui. She “took no steps to inform herself” about the welfare of the child victims until widespread media coverage began last spring, the panel said.
Not least, the United Nations children’s agency, or Unicef, did little more than refer the victims to a local organization that met with the children in 2014 for no more than a couple of hours. In a written statement, Unicef said it was reviewing the panel’s conclusions, adding that “we, of course, deeply regret those failures, including in not adequately following up on the children’s well-being.”
As for the soldiers accused, France has said it is investigating their conduct. So far, no arrests have been made. In early December, French officials said four peacekeepers were being questioned.