Child sex abuse claims shake UN as revelations continue

Associated Press
By CARA ANNA 25 minutes ago
FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2006, file photo, Anders Kompass, the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights representative in Guatemala, speaks with members of the media during a news conference in Guatemala City. The U.N.’s poor handling of child sex abuse claims against French soldiers has human rights staffers in the field fearing for their jobs as they struggle with how to respond to highly sensitive allegations in the future, according to a letter to the world body’s human rights chief obtained by The Associated Press. The letter dated May 8 from U.N. human rights field staffers is an angry response to last month’s suspension of colleague Kompass for telling French authorities, a decision that the U.N. Dispute Tribunal reversed this month. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
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FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2006, file photo, Anders Kompass, the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights representative in Guatemala, speaks with members of the media during a news conference in Guatemala City. The U.N.’s poor handling of child sex abuse claims against French soldiers has human rights staffers in the field fearing for their jobs as they struggle with how to respond to highly sensitive allegations in the future, according to a letter to the world body’s human rights chief obtained by The Associated Press. The letter dated May 8 from U.N. human rights field staffers is an angry response to last month’s suspension of colleague Kompass for telling French authorities, a decision that the U.N. Dispute Tribunal reversed this month. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The boys said they approached the French soldiers because they were hungry. Some were so young they didn't quite understand the acts the soldiers demanded in return. One boy, 8 or 9 years old, said he did it several times to the same soldier, "until one day an older kid saw him and told him what he was doing was bad."

Another boy, 9, said he thought the soldiers had been urinating.

U.N. investigators heard such stories of sexual abuse from several boys in May and June 2014 in Central African Republic, where French soldiers were protecting a sprawling displaced persons camp in the conflict-torn capital, Bangui.

One year later, revelations about how the U.N. handled the boys' accounts have horrified people both inside and outside the world body. Statements marked "strictly confidential" have shown that its top human rights officials failed to follow up for several months on the allegations their own office had collected.

On Saturday, the high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, said his office was sending a team to Central African Republic to look into what the statement called "possible further measures to address human rights violations," including sexual violence. The office also will ask "concerned states" what they have done to investigate them and prosecute anyone.

No arrests have been announced,