By Matthew Russell Lee,, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, June 24 -- French soldiers in the Central African Republic allegedly sexually abused children, as exposed in a UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights report given to the French government by longtime OHCHR staffer Anders Kompass.
Kompass was urged to resign -- according to a UN Dispute Tribunal ruling reinstating him, by French head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous, who has since tersely denied it -- and Miranda Brown who worked with him did in fact have her UN service ended, see below.
Kompass was urged to resign -- according to a UN Dispute Tribunal ruling reinstating him, by French head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous, who has since tersely denied it -- and Miranda Brown who worked with him did in fact have her UN service ended, see below.
On June 24, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric not only of Penel member Jallow working for the ICTR, but being subject to an OIOS investigation:
Inner City Press: on Central African Republic, I wanted to ask, you'd said that Mr. [Hassan Bubacar] Jallow is going to step back from the ICTR [International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda] during the ten weeks. But it's been — it's — OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] has had — has jurisdiction over ICTR and has during his tenure there and it's my understanding that there were at least two OIOS inquiries into — you know, without casting aspersion on it only, to say to some it's sort of — it's not an independent inquiry. You have somebody that's worked for a long time for something subject to OIOS and had investigations by OIOS — OIOS now investigating OIOS and so what would you —
Spokesman: I think the panel, taken as a whole, is a first-rate panel. It has human rights experts. It has in — the panel member from South Africa served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, who's been an active voice for human rights in Africa. It has a former Supreme Court Justice of Canada who has led the independent investigation into sexual abuses, into the Canadian Armed Forces, that was done some years ago. And it has Mr. Jallow, who has knowledge of the UN system, who is an independent prosecutor, who is a first-rate jurist. And I think, you know, people are free to question the composition of the panel. And whatever the composition of the panel will be, people would have questioned it. I think we stand by this panel. We're very proud of it. It will do its work independently. It will choose its own staff. And it will work under the, I think, fairly broad terms of reference.
Inner City Press: Can you just get a statement on whether in fact Mr. Jallow has had — has been the respondent in OIOS cases, given that OIOS is being investigated by this panel?
Spokesman: First of all, OIOS is not being investigated by this panel.
Inner City Press: They're not?
Spokesman: I think they will look — the panel will look how the issues were handled, but I think to say that OIOS will be investigated by the panel is a jump.
Inner City Press: But is it…
Spokesman: I — you know, if the — you know, the proceedings of any administrative tribunals are public, you're free to look; but, again, I'm not going to go on a witch hunt against Mr. Jallow and we're very proud to have him on the panel.
Spokesman: I think the panel, taken as a whole, is a first-rate panel. It has human rights experts. It has in — the panel member from South Africa served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, who's been an active voice for human rights in Africa. It has a former Supreme Court Justice of Canada who has led the independent investigation into sexual abuses, into the Canadian Armed Forces, that was done some years ago. And it has Mr. Jallow, who has knowledge of the UN system, who is an independent prosecutor, who is a first-rate jurist. And I think, you know, people are free to question the composition of the panel. And whatever the composition of the panel will be, people would have questioned it. I think we stand by this panel. We're very proud of it. It will do its work independently. It will choose its own staff. And it will work under the, I think, fairly broad terms of reference.
Inner City Press: Can you just get a statement on whether in fact Mr. Jallow has had — has been the respondent in OIOS cases, given that OIOS is being investigated by this panel?
Spokesman: First of all, OIOS is not being investigated by this panel.
Inner City Press: They're not?
Spokesman: I think they will look — the panel will look how the issues were handled, but I think to say that OIOS will be investigated by the panel is a jump.
Inner City Press: But is it…
Spokesman: I — you know, if the — you know, the proceedings of any administrative tribunals are public, you're free to look; but, again, I'm not going to go on a witch hunt against Mr. Jallow and we're very proud to have him on the panel.
We'll have more on this.
On June 23 Inner City Press asked Dujarric why the investigation of Kompass would continue alongside Ban's new panel - and why Ban was refusing to disclose the country of origin of a new set of accused child sexual abusers, this time directly in the MINUSCA mission.
Dujarric on the latter replied that Ban will wait until (at least) his next report to begin naming names. In response, Inner City Press can report that senior UN sources have exclusively told it that in CAR the allegation is of two peacekeepers having sex with a 12 year old girl for less than one dollar - and these these peacekeepers are from Burundi.
That Ban would refuse to disclose this is particularly troubling in light of questions raised by Burundi civil society, and the Free UN Coalition for Access, about Ladsous' Peacekeeping still using abusive Burundi security forces. We'll have more on this.
On June 24 the UN's Fifth (Budget) Committee adopted a resolution (in advance we put it online here
Dujarric on the latter replied that Ban will wait until (at least) his next report to begin naming names. In response, Inner City Press can report that senior UN sources have exclusively told it that in CAR the allegation is of two peacekeepers having sex with a 12 year old girl for less than one dollar - and these these peacekeepers are from Burundi.
That Ban would refuse to disclose this is particularly troubling in light of questions raised by Burundi civil society, and the Free UN Coalition for Access, about Ladsous' Peacekeeping still using abusive Burundi security forces. We'll have more on this.
On June 24 the UN's Fifth (Budget) Committee adopted a resolution (in advance we put it online here
