French peacekeeping troops have been accused of raping homeless and
hungry children in Central African Republic. Some of the children
included boys as young as 9 who were allegedly sodomized.
UK Guardian reports;
A senior United Nations aid worker has been suspended for disclosing
to prosecutors an internal report on the sexual abuse of children by
French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic. Sources
close to the case said Anders Kompass passed the document to
the French authorities because of the UN’s failure to take action to
stop the abuse. The report documented the sexual exploitation of
children as young as nine by French troops stationed in the country as
part of international peacekeeping efforts.
The abuses took place in 2014 when the UN mission in the country, Minusca, was in the process of being set up.
The Guardian has been passed the internal report on the sexual
exploitation by Paula Donovan, co-director of the advocacy group Aids
Free World, who is demanding an independent commission inquiry into the
UN’s handling of sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
It was commissioned by the UN office of the high commissioner for
human rights after reports on the ground that children, who are among
the tens of thousands displaced by the fighting, were being sexually
abused.
Entitled
Sexual Abuse on Children by International Armed Forces and stamped
“confidential” on every page, the report details the rape and sodomy of
starving and homeless young boys by French peacekeeping troops who were
supposed to be protecting them at a centre for internally displaced
people in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic.
Donovan said: “The regular sex abuse by peacekeeping personnel
uncovered here and the United Nations’ appalling disregard for victims
are stomach-turning, but the awful truth is that this isn’t uncommon.
The UN’s instinctive response to sexual violence in its ranks – ignore,
deny, cover up, dissemble – must be subjected to a truly independent
commission of inquiry with total access, top to bottom, and full
subpoena power.”
The UN has faced several scandals in the past relating to its failure
to act over paedophile rings operating in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Kosovo and Bosnia. It has also faced allegations of sexual
misconduct by its troops in Haiti, Burundi and Liberia.
The treatment of Kompass, a Swedish national, threatens to spark a major diplomatic row.
This month, the Swedish ambassador to the United Nations
warned senior UN officials “it would not be a good thing if the high
commissioner for human rights forced” Kompass to resign. The ambassador
threatened to go public if that happened and to engage in a potentially
ugly and harmful debate.
The abuses detailed in the internal report took place before and
after Minusca was set up last year. Interviews with the abused children
were carried out between May and June last year by a member of staff
from the office of the high commissioner for human rights and a Unicef
specialist. The children identified represent just a snapshot of the
numbers potentially being abused.
The boys, some of whom were orphans, disclosed sexual exploitation,
including rape and sodomy, between December 2013 and June 2014 by French
troops at a centre for internally displaced people at M’Poko airport in
Bangui.
The children described how they were sexually exploited in return for
food and money. One 11-year-old boy said he was abused when he went out
looking for food. A nine-year-old described being sexually abused with
his friend by two French soldiers at the IDP camp when they went to a
checkpoint to look for something to eat.
The child described how the soldiers forced him and his friend to
carry out a sex act. The report describes how distressed the child was
when disclosing the abuse and how he fled the camp in terror after the
assault. Some of the children were able to give good descriptions of the
soldiers involved.
In summer 2014, the report was passed to officials within the office
of the high commissioner for human rights in Geneva. When nothing
happened, Kompass sent the report to the French authorities and they
visited Bangui and began an investigation.
It is understood a more senior official was made aware of Kompass’s
actions and raised no objections. But last month Kompass was called in
and accused of breaching UN protocols by leaking details of a
confidential report, according to sources.
Kompass’s emails have been seized as part of the investigation into
the alleged leak. One senior UN official has said of Kompass that “it
was his duty to know and comply” with UN protocols on confidential
documents.
Bea Edwards, of the Government Accountability Project, an
international charity that supports whistleblowers, condemned the UN for
its witch-hunt against a whistleblower who had acted to stop the abuse
of children.
“We have represented many whistleblowers in the UN system over the
years and in general the more serious the disclosure they make the more
ferocious the retaliation,” said Edwards. “Despite the official
rhetoric, there is very little commitment at the top of the organisation
to protect whistleblowers and a strong tendency to politicise every
issue no matter how urgent.”
UN sources confirmed an investigation by the French was ongoing – in
cooperation with the UN – into allegations of a very serious nature
against peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.
On Wednesday the French government confirmed that authorities in
Paris were investigating the allegations. A statement from the defence
ministry said the government “was made aware at the end of July 2014 by
the UN’s high commission for human rights of accusations by children
that they had been sexually abused by French soldiers.”
An investigation was opened shortly after by Paris prosecutors, it said.
“The defence ministry has taken and will take the necessary measures
to allow the truth to be found,” the statement added. “If the facts are
proven, the strongest penalties will be imposed on those responsible for
what would be an intolerable attack on soldiers’ values.”
The ministry said the abuse was alleged by around 10 children and
reportedly took place at a centre for internally displaced people near
the airport of the capital Bangui between December 2013 and June 2014.
The ministry said that French investigators had gone to the CAR from 1 August last year to begin their inquiry.
A spokesman for the UN office of the high commissioner for human
rights confirmed an investigation was under way into the leaking of
confidential information by a staff member.
Kompass, who is based in Geneva, was suspended from his post as
director of field operations last week and accused of leaking a
confidential UN report and breaching protocols. He is under
investigation by the UN office for internal oversight service (OIOS)
amid warnings from a senior official that access to his case must be
“severely restricted”. He faces dismissal.
The treatment of the aid worker, who has been involved in
humanitarian work for more than 30 years, has taken place with the
knowledge of senior UN officials, including Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the
high commissioner for human rights, and Susana Malcorra, chef de cabinet
in the UN, according to documents relating to the case.
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