Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom has hit out at the UN for
suspending Anders Kompass, who leaked documents about French
peacekeepers in the Central African Republic allegedly being involved in
child abuse cases.
“It hurts the credibility of the entire UN when something
like this happens. You could question the whole treatment of the
case in Geneva and the way they have handled Anders
Kompass,” Wallstrom told the Swedish television channel,
SVT, as cited by the Local.
The Swedish foreign minister added she had received support for
opening an independent investigation into how Kompass’s case was
handled by the UN. Kompass was initially suspended on April 17,
before the ban was lifted on May 6.
“It is good that there will be an independent and hopefully
speedy investigation of what really happened. I spoke to some of
the participants [at the meeting in Johannesburg] who also say
they want to make a statement on this issue. Those who take part
with troops in peacekeeping efforts and policing efforts need to
show that they take these kinds of signals seriously,” she
added.
The whistleblower’s suspension was eventually lifted following a
UN Dispute Tribunal, which stated: “The
harm done to the applicant’s reputation will be irreparable and
could not be adequately compensated at a later stage.”
Kompass, a senior UN aid worker who has been involved in
humanitarian work for over than 30 years, was suspended after
passing documents to French prosecutors, He took the action
because the UN had failed to do anything.
The damning report alleged that French soldiers had raped and
sodomized starving and homeless boys in the Central African
Republic, some as young as nine.
French peacekeeping forces were supposed to be protecting
children at a center for the internally displaced near the
capital Bangui, when the abuse allegedly happened, between
December 2013 and June 2014.
A member of staff from the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR) and a specialist from UNICEF interviewed the
children between May and June last year. Some of the boys were
able to give good descriptions of individual soldiers who abused
them.
A UN tribunal subsequently ordered Kompass, who works for the
(OHCHR), to be put on administrative leave, which led to the
Swede being suspended from his duties on April 17.
The UN tribunal said Kompass had received a copy of the report in
July 2014 and brought the issue up a week later with a French
diplomat. The Swede added that he had spoken to his bosses about
the report and passed a copy on to the French authorities on
August 7, 2014.
The UN hit out at the human rights worker, saying its office was
only made aware of the leak on March 6.
“We remain extremely concerned that copies are circulating of
the confidential unredacted preliminary notes of the interviews
with the children,” the spokesman said.
Bea Edwards from the US-based Government Accountability Project,
a whistleblower protection and advocacy organization, blasted the
UN for what is little more than a 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.”
http://rt.com/news/267280-sweden-un-peacekeepers-abuse/