displaced people
© Reuters / Goran TomasevicEt militært fly lander ved siden af en lejr for internt fordrevne mennesker beliggende ved Bangui International Airport.
En fordømmende FN rapport om hvordan franske soldater voldtog og sodomiserede sultne og hjemløse børn i den Centralafrikanske Republik, nogle blot ni år gamle, er blevet lækket til the Guardian, og den FN ansatte som lækkede rapporten står overfor fyring.

Franske fredsbevarende styrker som det var meningen at skulle beskytte børn ved et center for internt fordrevne personer ved M'Poko Airport i den Centralafrikanske Republiks hovedstad Bangui, da misbruget fandt sted mellem December 2013 og juni 2014. Det var på et tidspunkt hvor FN missionen i landet MINUSCA, var ved at blive sat op.

En intern undersøgelse blev beordret af FN agenturet for højkommissionen for menneskerettigheder (UNHCR), efter rapporter fra stedet om seksuel misbrug af fordrevne børn i konflikten.

Et medlem af staben fra UNCHR og en specialist fra UNICEF interviewed børnene mellem maj og juni sidste år. Nogle af drengene var istand til at give gode beskrivelser af individuelle soldater som havde misbrugt dem.

Tjenestemænd i Geneve er rapporterdet at have modtaget rapporten i juni 2014.

Svensk statsborger, Anders Kompass, en senior FN nødhjælpsarbejder som har været involveret i humanitært arbejde i over 30 år gav dokumentet videre til franske anklagemyndigheder på grund af FN manglende evne til at handle, sagde kilder tæt ved sagen til The Guardian.

Avisen rapporterer at franske myndigheder rejste til Bangui for at undersøge beskyldningerne efter at have modtaget den konfidentielle FN rapport med titlen Sexual Abuse on Children by International Armed Forces.

En fransk juridisk kilde sagde at anklagemyndigheden havde modtaget FN rapporten i midten af juli 2014 og at en præliminær undersøgelse var sat i sving.

"En præliminær undersøgelse er blevet åbnet af anklageren i Paris siden d. 21. juli 2014. Undersøgelsen fortsætter," sagde han, som det er kvoteret af Reuters.


Kommentar: Vi beklager at resten af undersøgelsen er på engelsk. Hvis du har lyst til at hjælpe vores lille stab så hører vi gerne fra dig: sott_da@sott.net


The UN also confirmed Monday that it had given an unredacted report to the French authorities on the alleged abuse of children by French soldiers in CAR.

"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," the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General said in a statement.

The report made its way to Paula Donovan from the organization Aids Free World, who then passed it to the Guardian.

"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," she said.

Last month, Mr Kompass was accused of leaking a confidential UN report and breaching protocols.

Kompass was dismissed last week as director of field operations and is now under investigation by the UN office for internal oversight service (OIOS). One senior UN official even said that "it was his [Kompass's] duty to know and comply" with UN protocols on confidential documents.

Bea Edwards from the US based Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection and advocacy organization, blasted the UN for what is little more than witch-hunt against someone who sought to protect 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. Despite the official rhetoric, there is very little commitment at the top of the organization to protect whistleblowers and a strong tendency to politicize every issue no matter how urgent."

France's Operation Sangaris in CAR began in December 2013. It is now being wound down as Paris hands over security to an 8,500-strong UN peacekeeping force deployed to contain the deadly conflict.