Ban names panel to review UN handling of child sexual abuse allegations in CAR

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Monday appointed an independent panel to review the UN response to the allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of children by foreign military forces "not under United Nations command" in the Central African Republic (CAR), UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here.

The panel will be chaired by Marie Deschamps of Canada, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Dujarric said, adding that the other two members will be Hassan Jallow of Gambia, the prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ( ICTR), and Yasmin Sooka of South Africa, the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa.

"The panel will review the United Nations response to the allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of children by foreign military forces not under United Nations command and assess the adequacy of the procedures in place," he said. "The panel will conduct its work independently and will receive unrestricted access to all UN records and full access to staff members and other UN personnel."

Dujarric said the panel will begin its work in July and aim to submit its report within ten weeks, Dujarric said. "The panel is also mandated to make recommendations on how the UN should respond to similar allegations in the future and on any shortcomings in existing procedures."

The secretary-general will make this report public, subject to due process and confidentiality considerations, he added.

Reports said French military personnel sexually abused starving young boys at a center for internally displaced people in Bangui, capital of the CAR, between December 2013 and June 2014.

Following the allegations, the UN, through its Office of Human Rights in Bangui, conducted a human rights investigation in late spring of 2014. However, this year in April, a UN spokesperson told the press that a UN aid worker has been found leaking the unedited investigation report to French authorities in July 2014.

Faced with a growing uproar over the UN's handling of allegations of child sexual abuse by non-UN peacekeepers in the CAR, Ban, who declared himself "deeply disturbed" by the situation, said earlier this month that his intent was "to ensure that the United Nations does not fail the victims of sexual abuse, especially when committed by those who are meant to protect them."

In a statement issued on June 3, the UN Spokesperson's Office explained that the External Independent Review would examine the treatment of the specific report of abuse in the CAR as well as "a broad range of systemic issues related to how the UN responds to serious information of this kind."

In late May, the UN high commissioner for human right, Zeid Ra' ad Al Hussein, reported that his office had taken "a deeper look" into "the revelations of alleged serious sexual abuse of children" in the CAR despite the fact that the forces involved in the incidents were not operating as peacekeepers under the United Nations flag.

Moreover, the high commissioner said that in addition to requesting concerned states to provide more information about the steps they have taken to investigate the allegations, and prosecute anyone found to have committed crimes, he is sending a team from his Geneva headquarters to the African country to look into possible further measures to address violations. Endite