Could UN Sex abuse, including of children, top 60,000 victims in the last decade?
This article first appeared in The Independent in the UK on September 20, 2017 here.
The UK’s National Criminal Intelligence Service, which registers and monitors the activities of paedophiles, has warned as far back as 1999 that the scale of paedophiles in the international aid world is on a level with sex tourism.
This at first may seem shocking. But when one realises the good work of police forces to detect, prevent and prosecute paedophiles in our own communities is gaining in effectiveness, it is perhaps a predictable consequence that predatory paedophiles target the developing world.
The sad truth then is the easiest way for a paedophile to gain access to children in the developing world, is to work for a children’s charity.
What then are the aid agencies, particularly the United Nations, doing for training, prevention, detection and prosecution of paedophiles in order to send the signal that the aid world is no easy target?
The truth is sadly, not enough, and it is time for the UK government, that funds the UN and NGOs, to make our view heard.
Earlier this year the United Nations Secretary General admitted to 145 incidents involving 311 victims in 2016 alone, mainly in peace operations. We covered this on these pages earlier this year (here http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/united-nations-soldiers-paedophilia-un-child-rape-ngo-staff-a7648791.html)
Sadly, the 311 victims are only those who were brave enough to come forward to report the rapes and abuse.
Many of the victims were children.
The UN Secretary General confessed that this was only the tip of the iceberg. But how big is the iceberg?
This week in New York the Secretary General made a startling admission at a high-level meeting on the wings of the UN General Assembly meeting.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said “sexual exploitation and abuse is not a problem of peacekeeping, it is a problem of the entire United Nations. Contrary to the information spreading that this is a question related to our peacekeeping operations, it is necessary to say that the majority (emphasis added) of the cases of sexual exploitation and abuse are done by the civilian organizations of the United Nations, and not in peacekeeping operations.” (ed see here for source https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2017-09-18/secretary-generals-sea-address-high-level-meeting)
If the majority of cases are outside of peace operations the admitted 311 cases in peace operations are less half the reported victims in a single year. The total my well be over 600 of known victims..
In the United Kingdom about 14% of rapes are reported. If we assume slightly less rapes are reported against the United Nations, a safe assumption given the environments in which the United Nations works, and assume 10%, then that 600 victims represents 6,000 real victims, in only one year – many of whom a children.
That is 60,000 in a decade.
What is the United Nations doing in training, prevention, detection and prosecution of these crimes?
When one looks at the United Nations own website (here: https://conduct.unmissions.org/table-of-allegations) and filters the data to see accusations for child sex crimes, that have been investigated by the United Nations, found to be upheld, how many of these people have been reported back to police forces for prosecution?
Not a single one – by the UN’s own data on their own data base. Thousands of victims and not one person in jail.
What should we demand of the United Kingdom Government?
If we are to continue to support the good works of the UN in other areas we must demand the best in class training, prevention, detection and prosecution of sexual abusers, particularly when it involves children. The United Kingdom should demand that the UN demonstrate that the organisation we fund has the best in class systems for training, prevention, detection and prosecution of child abusers.
This week the UK has, through DFID head Priti Patel delivered letters to UN agencies saying that funding will be contingent on cracking down on child abuse.
The UK government should be congratulated for this. But what about prosecution?
Admittedly prosecution of peacekeeping soldiers can be problematic with responsibility falling to ‘troop providing countries’ but no such escape exists from prosecution of United Nations’ core staff.
Unfortunately, there is a Convention on United Nations Privileges and Immunities which gives legal protection from prosecution for a UN staff member performing his or her duties. Amazingly some think that child abuse falls within the definition of ‘performing duties’ and therefore legal immunity from prosecution should apply.
If this were to be true and the we put protection of child rapists before the protection of children something is severely wrong.
The United Kingdom Government should demand from the United Nations that it clearly states the organisation’s position on child abuse. Does the UN think perpetrating, aiding or assisting in child abuse is really ‘performing duties’? Will the UN insist on legal immunity for its staff?
If by some moral abhorrence some person in the United Nations could even consider that child abuse is part of their duties, the convention allows the Secretary General to waive immunity ‘in the interests of justice’.
What more justice can there be than protecting children from rape?
The United Kingdom must demand from the United Nations a permanent waiver of legal immunity for child sex crimes.
What better action by the United Kingdom government could there be than to ask for the UN to have best in class training, prevention, detection and prosecution mechanisms to stamp out child abuse by UN staff, and in so doing demand that legal immunity from prosecution is ended. Now.
Andrew MacLeod 