By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- French soldiers in the Central African Republic sexually abused children, and after more than nine months, no action has been taken.
On April 30 prosecutors in CAR's capital Bangui said they were never told about the allegations or report by the UN. What is the UN's function, when the rape of CAR children is reported only to France, and not to CAR?
Inner City Press asked UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq about the process, how long the UN would wait -- without answer. Haq spoke positively of French president Francois Hollande now saying "no mercy" to the perpetrators. After nine months?
Now it emerges that troops for example from Equatorial Guinea are also named in the UN report. Was Equatorial Guinea also told by the UN (and not CAR)? This is a cover-up, in more ways than one.
Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row in charge of UN Peacekeeping, has made an announcement from Bangui: that he will deploy drones there.
But who will get the information, and what will be covered up, like the rapes?
The UN's own in-house organ UN News Center, not mentioning the rapes of course, quotes Ladsous that "the arrival of attack helicopters and drones would help."
The story is more complex. Inner City Press has asked the UN questions, below.
Yesterday's Guardian report focused on a UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights staffer Anders Kompass -- who some media insist on identifying as an "aid worker" -- saying he is being retaliated against for sharing this information with the French.
As Inner City Pres previously reported, there is more to this story and to Kompass, in the public record. Kompass shared information with Morocco, to undermine human rights reporting in Western Sahara. Inner City Pressreported on Kompass and this in December; the leaked documents are online.
What is the relationship between the two stories, beyond the UN's near total lack of transparency and standards?
On April 29, the UN came out with a statement that Kompass was suspended with pay for leaking a report to French authorities with the name of victims and witnesses. Inner City Press asked UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq these questions, here
Inner City Press: since this report was given in mid-2014, one, can the U.N. say whether any of the alleged perpetrators have been disciplined? It's almost a year at this point. So you're saying they're looking into it now. I'm staring now at an e-mail of Rupert Colville of that office who is asking about Anders Compass in December in connection with the leaking of information to Morocco about Western Sahara, which was revealed in these Moroccan leaked cables. And I wanted to know, when was he suspended? And what's the relationship of these two? At the time, Mr. Colville said there was an OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] investigation of the leaking regarding Western Sahara. So the question is: are there two investigations? Is there one investigation? And can you tell us on what date Mr. Compass was suspended?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Some of these details will, of course, have to wait. The actual investigation that the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights is doing into this. So I would wait for that to be completed. I am aware of a separate issue involving the Office for the… for Internal Oversight Services. But that's… that is, I believe, on a different matter. But I'll have… but, of course, right now, I need for those particular things to be finished so I can comment on them. Otherwise, I don't have the details of either of those investigations while they're underway. So I'd expect your patience while we go through that. Regarding the case of Mr. Compass and his… Compass and his start date, like I said, he's been placed on administrative leave with full pay pending the results of the investigation. Regarding what you said about the French and any follow-up action, I think that's a question to ask the French authorities. Like I said, we have been made aware by the French that they are conducting their own investigation into this.
Inner City Press: But since the current UN mission works with the French authorities in a cooperative context and you have this human rights due diligence policy, doesn't the UN have some duty to know what the French authorities have done?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, regarding human rights due diligence, it's our human rights people who have investigating this. And we're following up on that. So we’re…
Question: I know.
Deputy Spokesman: These are not UN forces. These are forces under the control of…
Question: The policy covers UN working with outside forces that may have committed human rights violations. And the question is, what has the UN done to make sure that these rapes and abuses didn't take place--
Deputy Spokesman: I just read out a statement stating what we have done.
Question: Are you still working with the same forces that are accused of the rapes?
Deputy Spokesman: And as far as that goes, like I said, you would be well advised to ask the French how they're following up, but they are also conducting their own investigation, and that… like I said, the substance of this is very serious, and we do expect that there would be follow-up on that.
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Some of these details will, of course, have to wait. The actual investigation that the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights is doing into this. So I would wait for that to be completed. I am aware of a separate issue involving the Office for the… for Internal Oversight Services. But that's… that is, I believe, on a different matter. But I'll have… but, of course, right now, I need for those particular things to be finished so I can comment on them. Otherwise, I don't have the details of either of those investigations while they're underway. So I'd expect your patience while we go through that. Regarding the case of Mr. Compass and his… Compass and his start date, like I said, he's been placed on administrative leave with full pay pending the results of the investigation. Regarding what you said about the French and any follow-up action, I think that's a question to ask the French authorities. Like I said, we have been made aware by the French that they are conducting their own investigation into this.
Inner City Press: But since the current UN mission works with the French authorities in a cooperative context and you have this human rights due diligence policy, doesn't the UN have some duty to know what the French authorities have done?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, regarding human rights due diligence, it's our human rights people who have investigating this. And we're following up on that. So we’re…
Question: I know.
Deputy Spokesman: These are not UN forces. These are forces under the control of…
Question: The policy covers UN working with outside forces that may have committed human rights violations. And the question is, what has the UN done to make sure that these rapes and abuses didn't take place--
Deputy Spokesman: I just read out a statement stating what we have done.
Question: Are you still working with the same forces that are accused of the rapes?
Deputy Spokesman: And as far as that goes, like I said, you would be well advised to ask the French how they're following up, but they are also conducting their own investigation, and that… like I said, the substance of this is very serious, and we do expect that there would be follow-up on that.
But has there been? The head of UN Peacekeeping, former French diplomat Herve Ladous, has invoked the UN's stated human rights due diligence policy to not work with the Congolese Army in combating the Hutu FDLR rebel. But apparently no invocation, or even inquiry under, the UN's human rights due diligence policy as to the army of his native France. This is outrageous.
Here's their statement:
The United Nations, through its Office of Human Rights in Bangui, conducted a human rights investigation in late spring of 2014, following serious allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of children by French military personnel, prior to the establishment of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Central African Republic.
The resulting report was provided to an external party in mid-July 2014 in unedited form, which included the identities of victims, witnesses and investigators. The unedited version was, by a staff member’s own admission, provided unofficially by that staff member to the French authorities in late July, prior to even providing it to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) senior management. This constitutes a serious breach of protocol, which, as is well known to all OHCHR officials, requires redaction of any information that could endanger victims, witnesses and investigators.
There is also an internal investigation into the handling of this matter by OHCHR, including the manner in which the confidential preliminary findings were initially communicated to external actors, and whether the names of victims, witnesses and investigators were conveyed as part of that document. One staff member has been placed on administrative leave with full pay pending the results of the investigation.
Our preliminary assessment is that such conduct does not constitute whistleblowing.
The resulting report was provided to an external party in mid-July 2014 in unedited form, which included the identities of victims, witnesses and investigators. The unedited version was, by a staff member’s own admission, provided unofficially by that staff member to the French authorities in late July, prior to even providing it to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) senior management. This constitutes a serious breach of protocol, which, as is well known to all OHCHR officials, requires redaction of any information that could endanger victims, witnesses and investigators.
There is also an internal investigation into the handling of this matter by OHCHR, including the manner in which the confidential preliminary findings were initially communicated to external actors, and whether the names of victims, witnesses and investigators were conveyed as part of that document. One staff member has been placed on administrative leave with full pay pending the results of the investigation.
Our preliminary assessment is that such conduct does not constitute whistleblowing.
We'll have more on this - and on the behavior in CAR of MINUSCA, run by Frenchman Herve Ladsous.
Inner City Press back on November 21, 2014, asked the New York spokesman for High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid for
"an update on action on the leaked cables, related to Western Sahara, involving current OHCHR official Anders Kompass and one, previously head of OHCHR's office in NY, who's just left. What steps has OHCHR taken on the cables / issues?"
Now three weeks later there has been no answer. from the OHCHR spokesperson in New York. But we now publish this response from OHCHR Geneva spokesperson Rupert Colville to similar questions:
From: Rupert Colville [at] ohchr.org
Date: Friday 12 December 2014
Subj: Investigation leaked cables Western Sahara and OHCHR
Date: Friday 12 December 2014
Subj: Investigation leaked cables Western Sahara and OHCHR
The investigation is being carried out, at our request, by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) in New York, which is an operationally independent office that assists the Secretary-General in fulfilling his internal oversight responsibilities. While the investigation is under way, there is nothing else I can say on the matter.
Colville was asked, among other things, “Is Anders Kompass still in active duty during this investigation? Who is leading this investigation?”
The UN system often uses the pendency of an investigation as a way to wait for the “problem” to go away. As the publication Tel Quel, here, has noted, many in the media are not covering the leaks.
Relatedly, the leaks are now being covered up or censored. Two recent uploads, about Morocco and the African Group at the UN, were put on “ filefactory.com” -- then taken down after, the site says, a complaint under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
This is a new trend -- attempt to use copyright law to take down leaked documents. Reuters, for example, filed a “for the record” complaint with the UN trying to get Inner City Press thrown out - then, when the “for the record” complaint was leaked and published, conned Google into blocking it from Search, calling it copyrighted. Click here for that.
So that media uses or abuses copyright to censor its own “for the record” complaint filed with the UN, and does not cover these new leaks about Western Sahara, Morocco, and the UN. This is a new trend. Watch this site.
In the above, the referenced former head of OHCHR's New York office is Senegal's Bacre Waly Ndiaye, noted Tijania Sufi. The cables reveal a deep scandal in the UN system. Now OHCHR in Geneva is saying it will not comment until an investigation, Inner City Press understands by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, is complete. But there is no indication that will be publish. This is one of the ways the UN covers up.
There other ways, beyond Western Sahara. On rapes in DR Congo by Army units the UN support, Ladsous refused to answer Press questions for months. Video here of then and now spokesman pulling microphone away from Inner City Press. These practices are being opposed by the newFree UN Coalition for Access.
Now on UN Peacekeeping's November 9 press release covering up mass rape in Thabit in Darfur, Ladsous has not answered any questions; UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on November 21 told Inner City Press the UN won't comment on leaks. The Western Sahara leaks are so extensive that despite a seeming media blackout byWestern wire services, they will not go away.
While Ladsous is not the only UN official exposed by the cables, his extraordinary campaign of refusing Press questions, to the point of physically blocking Press filming (Vine here), as well as a DPKO to OHCHR connection, make him key to the case. As to MINURSO, Ladsous is blamed for the non-deployment of Bolduc.
Back on November 14 Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq about Bolduc and an investigation of leaks in Geneva of which sources tell it.Video here.
On November 5, Inner City Press reported on leaked cables showing among other things the UN's Ladsous undermining MINURSO on the issue of human rights, and improper service of Morocco by Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights staffers Anders Kompass and Bacre Waly Ndiaye.
Since then, along with anonymous death threats, Inner City Press has received additional information including of a UN Office of Internal Oversight Services investigation of Anders Kompers and Bacre Waly Ndiaye.
On November 14, Inner City Press asked the UN's Haq, per UN transcript:
Deputy Spokesman Haq: You had a question on Western Sahara?
Inner City Press: It's a two-pronged question. What Stéphane [Dujarric] said earlier in the week about Kim Bolduc, the new SRSG [Special Representative of the Secretary-General]. I wanted to just kind of confirm it. In reading it, does that mean that she has never has been allowed in? And, if so, where has she been since August? What is the plan to resolve that? And I also wanted to ask you about regarding the cables that I base the initial question on. Can you confirm that OIOS [Office for Internal Oversight Services] is conducting an investigation at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on at least two staff members who apparently leaked this information to the Moroccan Government?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: On that, I cannot confirm that. As you know, the OIOS conducts its work independently. At some point, once they have completed their work, they apprise us [inaudible]. But I wouldn't be aware of any work that is ongoing. Beyond that, regarding Kim Bolduc, as you know, both Christopher Ross and Kim Bolduc briefed the Security Council on 27 October. And at that point, the Security Council reiterated its desire, first of all, to see Ambassador Ross's facilitation resume and reiterated its desire to see Kim Bolduc be able to take up her duties at the helm of MINURSO [United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara] as soon as possible. And we look forward to the resumption of Mr. Ross's visit to the region and also to the deployment of Kim Bolduc.
Inner City Press: But is she currently, I mean, she is the SRSG?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: She is the SRSG, but she has not been able to function with her MINURSO duties in-country.
Inner City Press: It's a two-pronged question. What Stéphane [Dujarric] said earlier in the week about Kim Bolduc, the new SRSG [Special Representative of the Secretary-General]. I wanted to just kind of confirm it. In reading it, does that mean that she has never has been allowed in? And, if so, where has she been since August? What is the plan to resolve that? And I also wanted to ask you about regarding the cables that I base the initial question on. Can you confirm that OIOS [Office for Internal Oversight Services] is conducting an investigation at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on at least two staff members who apparently leaked this information to the Moroccan Government?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: On that, I cannot confirm that. As you know, the OIOS conducts its work independently. At some point, once they have completed their work, they apprise us [inaudible]. But I wouldn't be aware of any work that is ongoing. Beyond that, regarding Kim Bolduc, as you know, both Christopher Ross and Kim Bolduc briefed the Security Council on 27 October. And at that point, the Security Council reiterated its desire, first of all, to see Ambassador Ross's facilitation resume and reiterated its desire to see Kim Bolduc be able to take up her duties at the helm of MINURSO [United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara] as soon as possible. And we look forward to the resumption of Mr. Ross's visit to the region and also to the deployment of Kim Bolduc.
Inner City Press: But is she currently, I mean, she is the SRSG?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: She is the SRSG, but she has not been able to function with her MINURSO duties in-country.
In-country, eh? We'll have more on this. And on this: Inner City Press is informed that while Ladsous claims to have performed as required in connection with the appointment of Bolduc, even on this he is accused of failing to do his duty, as on many other parts of his job.Video compilation here; recent Vine here.
Document leaks from inside the UN have identified improper service of Morocco, on the question of Western Sahara, by a staffer at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Anders Kompass.
Inner City Press has waited to report on them; the spokesperson for the High Commissioner has today said his office is aware the leaked cables, which contain the perspective of certain diplomats, and that the situation is being investigated to clarify the facts.”
Whatever the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, now under Jordan's Prince Zeid, does about the content of the leaks, more will be required in the UN Secretariat in New York -- particularly at the top of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, which runs the MINURSO mission in Western Sahara.
The cables show that Herve Ladsous, a long-time French diplomat now the boss of DPKO and thus of MINURSO, was flacking for Morocco on the supposed quality of its human rights mechanisms. This directly undercuts the MINURSO mission, for which Ladsous is supposed to be working.
