By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 1, video here -- French soldiers in the Central African Republic allegedly sexually abused children, and after more than nine months, no action has been taken. On May 1 from Geneva the spokesperson for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zaid, Rupert Colville, sought to explain or bolster the reputations of the Office, and of France.
But Colville did not address, much less explain, why the UN did not tell the Central African Republic authorities about the alleged rapes of their citizens by French soldiers. Later on May 1, an African Permanent Representative sought out Inner City Press to say that "CAR is very mad the UN didn't tell them." He noted that the UN deputy spokesperson called Inner City Press "rude" for asking why.
At the UN's noon briefing in New York, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq read out loud from Colville's statement. Inner City Press asked questions, video here and now transcribed by the UN, here:
Inner City Press: ...what Rupert Colville had said about the alleged child rapes in Central African Republic. I read it all, and it didn't answer some of the questions that are public about it, which include the following: The Central African Republic authorities have said that they only learned of these events and charges by reading The Guardian. And so what I wanted to know, it seems pretty extraordinary that the UN would collect evidence of rape in a — in a host country in that case. Was it not provided? Is that true that it wasn't provided to the home country people?
Also it's reported that similar allegations are against peacekeepers, quote-unquote, from Chad and Equatorial Guinea. I don't see that addressed in his statement. My question is, is the UN equally satisfied or happy with the follow-through by those two countries? And finally, he talked about an OIOS investigation of Mr. Kompass, but he's previously confirmed in writing a previous, prior OIOS investigation of Mr. Kompass for releasing to Morocco about Western Sahara. And I wanted to know, does the UN feel any responsibility — if the leaking to France is as bad as Mr. Colville says, why was nothing done about the first leaking to Morocco? And what's the status of that investigation?
Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq: Both investigations are under way. We, of course, in terms of what response we would have would rely on what happens when each of those investigations are completed. Those are separate issues, one involving Western Sahara and one involving Central African Republic. And we'll to await the results of each.
Now, in terms of the Chadians and Equatorial Guineans, we've seen these orders. The information that we have was handed over to the French authorities and therefore that investigation would need to go to them. As you may be aware, there were, I believe, Chadian and Equatorial Guinean troops in the precursor to the UN force, what was called at that point MISCA. Neither of those contingents wound up in the UN mission, MINUSCA.
And — and I believe — neither of them was rehatted, in other words, as UN contingents. And your first question —
Question: Did the UN tell the CAR authorities, and if not why not?
Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq: Right now, Rupert has been handling, as you have seen, questions about the timeline. And as he made clear, some of the questions about the timeline are pending the results of the actual investigation into this. So he's been trying to provide as much details on that. But — but certainly the idea was to provide the information to the people who could prosecute the people who we thought may have done wrong in this case.
Inner City Press: Thanks a lot. Whether or not the Equatorial Guinean and Chadian forces remained in MINUSCA, if the UN heard allegations of child rape by those forces, doesn't the UN then tell at least that country that they were abused?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: I can't comment on evidence that was collected. I'm not aware of the extent of evidence that was shared, and I don't know whether it includes these nationalities or not. That will become clear as course of these investigations proceeds. So I will have to wait until those investigations are done.
Inner City Press: One more on press freedom. I want to ask you this because it's talked about a lot in this room. There's a paragraph of Mr. Colville's statement where he says he expresses extreme concern that the unredacted copy of the report is given to media, urges media what to do with it, but he also says as his example that reporters have contacted some of the victims. And what I wanted to know is, on what basis does he believe that's from the report? Is the UN saying, don't actually investigate this case, which some people believe the UN or the French covered up for nine months? Is the message to reporters don't speak to people that claim to have been victimized or don't use the report to —
Deputy Spokesman: No, no. The message is what he actually said.
Inner City Press: Okay.
Deputy Spokesman: So I would go back to what his words were, which I have in front of me.
Inner City Press: A person named in the documents was contacted. But the question is, [how does the UN know how the reporter and victim connected]
[overlapping talking]
Deputy Spokesman: His concern is that the names of these children is out there in the public. It's obvious that it's out there because people are contacting them.
Inner City Press: But there are reporters who actually can find victims without the UN's report —
Deputy Spokesman: It's possible they’ve done it in a different way. Our priority is to protect children.
Inner City Press: So —
Deputy Spokesman: Children, who at the end of the day, live in the Central African Republic and could face —
Question: But then why didn't —
Deputy Spokesman: — danger and —
[overlapping talking]
Deputy Spokesman: Please stop talking over me while I'm giving you the answer.
Inner City Press: I —
Deputy Spokesman: I'm sorry. This not a debate. This is a briefing. No, seriously.
Inner City Press: Okay. It — I have another question. Finish what you say. Then I'm going to ask a question because you just said —
Deputy Spokesman: You must have been the most obnoxious child.
[laughter]
Matthew, you're asking a question, you're talking over me while I answer. That's not how briefings go.
Inner City Press: I asked questions yesterday you haven't answered yet. What happened to Conference Room 3? Do you have an answer to that?
Deputy Spokesman: I'll get back to you, but you still haven't let me answer the question I was doing. You seem actually more interested in talking over me than in getting the answer. The answer — what was it again now —
Inner City Press: Did you tell Central African Republic about the rape charge?
Deputy Spokesman: The — the point — the point is that they told it to the authorities who were in a position to actually deal with the question of wrongdoing. So that — that is where — that is where the report went.
Regarding Rupert Colville, which is what we were talking about before you rudely interrupted me several times, his concern is that these children who are in a very dangerous country, their names are now out in the public, and so obviously their names are now out in the public because these reporters are contacting them for whatever reason, and the worry is a worry about their safety.
Inner City Press: My only — this was the question that I was asking.
Deputy Spokesman: For God's sake, Matthew!
Question: You said you'd finish and I'd ask a question. It's a very simple question.
[overlapping talking]
Inner City Press: Can I ask a question on this?
Deputy Spokesman: Ladies and gentlemen, is there a point for me to continue with if he continues like this? I leave it to you. One of your colleagues is shaking their head no.
Inner City Press: Let's take a poll then.
UNCA rep: Yes, let's take a poll.
[overlapping talking]
Inner City Press: On World Press Freedom Day and I have a question and this is the question. Can I say it?
UNCA rep: No.
Deputy Spokesman Haq: First of all, press freedom has to do with your rights to go about your work. You're actually constraining other people's right to go about their work by shutting me down. You realize that, right? There are other reporters in this room who are not you.
Inner City Press: Sure. I understand that.
Deputy Spokesman: All right. And you respect their right to receive information —
Inner City Press: I don't have an answer.
Deputy Spokesman Haq: — without hearing some other guy talking from the crowd over me, right?
Inner City Press: It's a yes-or-no question. Did the UN tell the Central African Republic authorities of the rape of their citizens? And if not, why not? That's it.
Deputy Spokesman: As I've said, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is trying to prepare the timeline. As Rupert has made clear from Geneva today, some of that remains pending an investigation. I would — I would have to urge you to wait for the result of that investigation to go out.
Also it's reported that similar allegations are against peacekeepers, quote-unquote, from Chad and Equatorial Guinea. I don't see that addressed in his statement. My question is, is the UN equally satisfied or happy with the follow-through by those two countries? And finally, he talked about an OIOS investigation of Mr. Kompass, but he's previously confirmed in writing a previous, prior OIOS investigation of Mr. Kompass for releasing to Morocco about Western Sahara. And I wanted to know, does the UN feel any responsibility — if the leaking to France is as bad as Mr. Colville says, why was nothing done about the first leaking to Morocco? And what's the status of that investigation?
Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq: Both investigations are under way. We, of course, in terms of what response we would have would rely on what happens when each of those investigations are completed. Those are separate issues, one involving Western Sahara and one involving Central African Republic. And we'll to await the results of each.
Now, in terms of the Chadians and Equatorial Guineans, we've seen these orders. The information that we have was handed over to the French authorities and therefore that investigation would need to go to them. As you may be aware, there were, I believe, Chadian and Equatorial Guinean troops in the precursor to the UN force, what was called at that point MISCA. Neither of those contingents wound up in the UN mission, MINUSCA.
And — and I believe — neither of them was rehatted, in other words, as UN contingents. And your first question —
Question: Did the UN tell the CAR authorities, and if not why not?
Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq: Right now, Rupert has been handling, as you have seen, questions about the timeline. And as he made clear, some of the questions about the timeline are pending the results of the actual investigation into this. So he's been trying to provide as much details on that. But — but certainly the idea was to provide the information to the people who could prosecute the people who we thought may have done wrong in this case.
Inner City Press: Thanks a lot. Whether or not the Equatorial Guinean and Chadian forces remained in MINUSCA, if the UN heard allegations of child rape by those forces, doesn't the UN then tell at least that country that they were abused?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: I can't comment on evidence that was collected. I'm not aware of the extent of evidence that was shared, and I don't know whether it includes these nationalities or not. That will become clear as course of these investigations proceeds. So I will have to wait until those investigations are done.
Inner City Press: One more on press freedom. I want to ask you this because it's talked about a lot in this room. There's a paragraph of Mr. Colville's statement where he says he expresses extreme concern that the unredacted copy of the report is given to media, urges media what to do with it, but he also says as his example that reporters have contacted some of the victims. And what I wanted to know is, on what basis does he believe that's from the report? Is the UN saying, don't actually investigate this case, which some people believe the UN or the French covered up for nine months? Is the message to reporters don't speak to people that claim to have been victimized or don't use the report to —
Deputy Spokesman: No, no. The message is what he actually said.
Inner City Press: Okay.
Deputy Spokesman: So I would go back to what his words were, which I have in front of me.
Inner City Press: A person named in the documents was contacted. But the question is, [how does the UN know how the reporter and victim connected]
[overlapping talking]
Deputy Spokesman: His concern is that the names of these children is out there in the public. It's obvious that it's out there because people are contacting them.
Inner City Press: But there are reporters who actually can find victims without the UN's report —
Deputy Spokesman: It's possible they’ve done it in a different way. Our priority is to protect children.
Inner City Press: So —
Deputy Spokesman: Children, who at the end of the day, live in the Central African Republic and could face —
Question: But then why didn't —
Deputy Spokesman: — danger and —
[overlapping talking]
Deputy Spokesman: Please stop talking over me while I'm giving you the answer.
Inner City Press: I —
Deputy Spokesman: I'm sorry. This not a debate. This is a briefing. No, seriously.
Inner City Press: Okay. It — I have another question. Finish what you say. Then I'm going to ask a question because you just said —
Deputy Spokesman: You must have been the most obnoxious child.
[laughter]
Matthew, you're asking a question, you're talking over me while I answer. That's not how briefings go.
Inner City Press: I asked questions yesterday you haven't answered yet. What happened to Conference Room 3? Do you have an answer to that?
Deputy Spokesman: I'll get back to you, but you still haven't let me answer the question I was doing. You seem actually more interested in talking over me than in getting the answer. The answer — what was it again now —
Inner City Press: Did you tell Central African Republic about the rape charge?
Deputy Spokesman: The — the point — the point is that they told it to the authorities who were in a position to actually deal with the question of wrongdoing. So that — that is where — that is where the report went.
Regarding Rupert Colville, which is what we were talking about before you rudely interrupted me several times, his concern is that these children who are in a very dangerous country, their names are now out in the public, and so obviously their names are now out in the public because these reporters are contacting them for whatever reason, and the worry is a worry about their safety.
Inner City Press: My only — this was the question that I was asking.
Deputy Spokesman: For God's sake, Matthew!
Question: You said you'd finish and I'd ask a question. It's a very simple question.
[overlapping talking]
Inner City Press: Can I ask a question on this?
Deputy Spokesman: Ladies and gentlemen, is there a point for me to continue with if he continues like this? I leave it to you. One of your colleagues is shaking their head no.
Inner City Press: Let's take a poll then.
UNCA rep: Yes, let's take a poll.
[overlapping talking]
Inner City Press: On World Press Freedom Day and I have a question and this is the question. Can I say it?
UNCA rep: No.
Deputy Spokesman Haq: First of all, press freedom has to do with your rights to go about your work. You're actually constraining other people's right to go about their work by shutting me down. You realize that, right? There are other reporters in this room who are not you.
Inner City Press: Sure. I understand that.
Deputy Spokesman: All right. And you respect their right to receive information —
Inner City Press: I don't have an answer.
Deputy Spokesman Haq: — without hearing some other guy talking from the crowd over me, right?
Inner City Press: It's a yes-or-no question. Did the UN tell the Central African Republic authorities of the rape of their citizens? And if not, why not? That's it.
Deputy Spokesman: As I've said, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is trying to prepare the timeline. As Rupert has made clear from Geneva today, some of that remains pending an investigation. I would — I would have to urge you to wait for the result of that investigation to go out.
Haq never answered te question. Clearly, Colville already knows if OHCHR gave the report to CAR or only to France.
Inner City Press also asked about the UN's investigation into OHCHR staffer Anders Kompass having leaked information about Western Sahara to the Moroccan government, and why that investigation took so long that leaking continued, to France of its victims' names. Haq would not say which investigation began first, a key point. We'll have more on this.
Haq said that Inner City Press was rude for asking and was cutting him off, and turned to the representative of the UN Correspondents Association to support him, and then to ask question of which he approved. The UNCA representative began by saying that who the UN told, and when, wasn't important.
Haq said, this is how questions are supposed to be asked -- apparently, the questions the UN wants, from the partners it selects, ignoring the UN's own role in problems. It was World Press Freedom Day at the UN; the Free UN Coalition for Access will have more on this.
Here's from the OHCHR "Briefing Notes," with clarifying annotations by Inner City Press:
"In response to a question about the investigation of sexual abuse of children in the Central African Republic, the OHCHR spokesperson had the following reply.. This is being investigated by the French authorities. I understand they have now said publicly that that investigation started on 31 July last year."
Inner City Press notes, if despite the clarity of the charges France has not brought charges against a single soldier in the nine months it has supposedly been investigating with "no mercy" (President Hollande's phrase), why is the UN human rights office so openly defending the French Army?
Colville continued: "We are extremely glad that the French authorities are investigating this and that they have said they plan to call for the harshest punishments available under the law for anyone found guilty. This is incredibly important... We have been cooperating with the French authorities and will continue to do so to the best of our ability."
Inner City Press: This while the UN Peacekeepin mission MINUSCA, run by Frenchman Herve Ladsous, continues "cooperating" with the same French Army forces accused of the rapes (while Ladsous refuses to cooperate with the Congolese Army in military operations against the Hutu FDLR militia).
OHCHR continued: "The second investigation is internal, and is being carried out by OIOS at the request of the High Commissioner. A statement was made about this by the Secretary-General’s Spokesperson in New York on Wednesday."
But as Inner City Press has reported, Anders Kompass was ALREADY under OIOS investigation for leaking information about Western Sahara to Morocco. Colville know about this and has answered other journalists' questions about it. But it is not mentioned in his May 1 statement.
That OHCHR was already informed of Kompass' leaking to governments makes them negligent, it seems, in any similar leaking to France of this information. We'll have more on this.
Colville on May 1 continued: "We are extremely concerned that in recent days copies of this preliminary compilation of unredacted interviews with these children appear to have been given to journalists, possibly with the names still unredacted, and we urge any media organization or other individual that has this document not to circulate that information any further."
Inner City Press notes that the impact of this is to say to media, do not check into the UN's and France's "processing" of these child rape charges. Do not speak with parents. Trust us. But would such trust be justified?
Finally Colville tried to clean up the reputation of UN Peacekeeping -- which works with these French forces -- and of France, saying:
I would also like to clarify a number of elements that have been widely misreported.First, this does not concern UN peacekeepers. The French force in CAR was not under the umbrella of the UN. This begs the question: Why would OHCHR - or indeed the wider UN - try to protect French troops accused of such odious acts against children by sitting on such information?
Inner City Press answers: Why indeed. UN Peacekeeping has been run four time in a row by citizens of France, a P5 country which chooses the Secretary General who chooses the High Commissioner. And Ladsous' MINUSCA does work with these same French forces now. Suddenly Colville omits the supposed "Human Rights Due Diligence Policy."
I would also like to clarify a number of elements that have been widely misreported.First, this does not concern UN peacekeepers. The French force in CAR was not under the umbrella of the UN. This begs the question: Why would OHCHR - or indeed the wider UN - try to protect French troops accused of such odious acts against children by sitting on such information?
Inner City Press answers: Why indeed. UN Peacekeeping has been run four time in a row by citizens of France, a P5 country which chooses the Secretary General who chooses the High Commissioner. And Ladsous' MINUSCA does work with these same French forces now. Suddenly Colville omits the supposed "Human Rights Due Diligence Policy."
"Secondly, there is the timeline. This will obviously be clarified during the investigation. But it is incorrect to say this collection of interviews was submitted on 24 June. That was the date the last interview with one of the children took place. As far as we are aware at this point – and I stress this remains to be established as fact by the investigation – the document containing the interviews was apparently sent to Geneva in mid-July. And, as you are aware, the French have said they started their investigation on 31 July."
And no one has been been charged, in nine months in counting. This is a new low. We'll have more on this.
On April 30, Inner City Press asked UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq when, if ever, the UN was going to make public its report -- which it did not even share with the CAR authorities, only France. Video here.
From the UN's transcript:
Inner City Press: if Mr. [Anders] Kompass had not given the unredacted report to the French and if it had not appeared in the Guardian, when was this ever going to be made public? What… can you describe what the UN's process… once it hears testimony from nine-year-old children that they were raped by soldiers in an area in which it has a mission, how is it taken this long? What is the normal process once you have such a report? Would it ever have been made public [inaudible]
Deputy Spokesman Haq: The normal process is to hand it over to the authorities who are in a position to prosecute and that was in fact been done and they have in fact been prosecuting. Of course, their investigation, their own work in this is continuing, and we respect the ability of them to turn… to continue with that investigation. Regarding that… the handling of evidence, as you know, we've… we said yesterday… and I'm not going to go over all of that again, what our concerns were, but it has to do with another thing that is a key priority of the United Nations, which is to say the protection of the sort of people who place their trust in us come forward with vital information as witnesses or as victims or as investigators, and we want to make sure that no harm comes to those people. And that's also an important priority to keep in mind.
Inner City Press: The question becomes — so what's the UN's usual procedure if it receives allegations of rape of children, it provides it to a country. How long does it give a country… when you say prosecution, has anyone been charged in the nine months since the information was provided, anyone?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: That's not a question for me but for the French authorities. They are ones that are conducting the prosecution.
Inner City Press: Once you provide information about child rape by soldiers to a country, if no one is charged, when do you go public? Was it just a fluke that the Guardian published it, or would you ever have gone public with it? That's really now question. Is there a procedure for the UN to say children say they were raped and the country has not done anything? When does that happen?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Yes, at some point, the relevant information comes out, but we also have to respect the ability of the authorities to conduct an investigation without our interference in their investigative process.
We don't try to interfere with countries' investigative processes. In the meantime, what we did through our human rights office in Bangui is conduct a human rights investigation in the late spring of 2014. That was in response to serious allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of children by French military personnel.
We… we tried to make sure that that will be followed up on, and in fact it is being followed up on. In terms of when it's being made public, I believe the French authorities have their own way of processing this, and you really need to ask them the question of how they disclose this sort of information as they go about this. But certainly we're not trying to prejudice or interfere with an investigation. For us, the main priority is accountability. The main priority is to make sure that whoever committed this, if… if there were crimes committed, that justice is done and that the people who committed these… these alleged crimes are held accountable.
Inner City Press: Is there a deadline for a country to actually prosecute somebody once they're given information such as this because you treat other countries differently? For example, in the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo], DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations] has said we won't work with the army because they didn't do certain judicial things. So what's the rule? Is it nine months, a year, a year and a half?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: This country is in fact doing judicial things and we're respecting that process. Ultimately for us the important point is to make sure justice is done, and we'll continue it follow up on that. But they are in fact going ahead with that process.
Deputy Spokesman Haq: The normal process is to hand it over to the authorities who are in a position to prosecute and that was in fact been done and they have in fact been prosecuting. Of course, their investigation, their own work in this is continuing, and we respect the ability of them to turn… to continue with that investigation. Regarding that… the handling of evidence, as you know, we've… we said yesterday… and I'm not going to go over all of that again, what our concerns were, but it has to do with another thing that is a key priority of the United Nations, which is to say the protection of the sort of people who place their trust in us come forward with vital information as witnesses or as victims or as investigators, and we want to make sure that no harm comes to those people. And that's also an important priority to keep in mind.
Inner City Press: The question becomes — so what's the UN's usual procedure if it receives allegations of rape of children, it provides it to a country. How long does it give a country… when you say prosecution, has anyone been charged in the nine months since the information was provided, anyone?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: That's not a question for me but for the French authorities. They are ones that are conducting the prosecution.
Inner City Press: Once you provide information about child rape by soldiers to a country, if no one is charged, when do you go public? Was it just a fluke that the Guardian published it, or would you ever have gone public with it? That's really now question. Is there a procedure for the UN to say children say they were raped and the country has not done anything? When does that happen?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: Yes, at some point, the relevant information comes out, but we also have to respect the ability of the authorities to conduct an investigation without our interference in their investigative process.
We don't try to interfere with countries' investigative processes. In the meantime, what we did through our human rights office in Bangui is conduct a human rights investigation in the late spring of 2014. That was in response to serious allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of children by French military personnel.
We… we tried to make sure that that will be followed up on, and in fact it is being followed up on. In terms of when it's being made public, I believe the French authorities have their own way of processing this, and you really need to ask them the question of how they disclose this sort of information as they go about this. But certainly we're not trying to prejudice or interfere with an investigation. For us, the main priority is accountability. The main priority is to make sure that whoever committed this, if… if there were crimes committed, that justice is done and that the people who committed these… these alleged crimes are held accountable.
Inner City Press: Is there a deadline for a country to actually prosecute somebody once they're given information such as this because you treat other countries differently? For example, in the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo], DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations] has said we won't work with the army because they didn't do certain judicial things. So what's the rule? Is it nine months, a year, a year and a half?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: This country is in fact doing judicial things and we're respecting that process. Ultimately for us the important point is to make sure justice is done, and we'll continue it follow up on that. But they are in fact going ahead with that process.
Setting aside for now whether that's true or not, what about Equatorial Guinea?
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 Press reported 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
