U.N. reports 31 new allegations of sex abuse and exploitation over 3 months
The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations on Friday reported 31 new allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation against peacekeepers and civilians working for U.N. agencies in the three-month period from July and through September — almost half against those employed to help refugees.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric released the figures and said Secretary General Antonio Guterres “is obviously disappointed and saddened that these actions continue.”
The United Nations has been in the spotlight for several years over allegations of child rape and other sexual abuses by its peacekeepers, especially those based in Central African Republic and Congo.
According to U.N. figures, there were 80 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse involving U.N. peacekeepers and 65 allegations involving U.N. civilian staff in 2016 — an increase from 2015.
Guterres announced new measures in March to tackle the increase in sexual abuse and exploitation by U.N. peacekeepers and staff, including a new focus on victims and bans on alcohol and fraternization for troops.
According to Dujarric, there were 12 allegations against peacekeepers and 19 against civilians working for U.N. agencies between July 1 and Sept. 30.
Fifteen of the allegations involved the Geneva-based U.N. refugee agency known as UNHCR which helps more than 22 million people who have fled to another country, he said. Three involved civilians working for the U.N. migration agency, the International Office for Migration, and one who worked for the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF.
This was the first three-month update and Dujarric said the U.N. will continue the practice of quarterly reporting.
Of the 12 U.N. peacekeepers alleged to have been involved in sexual abuse or exploitation, he said four were serving in Congo, three in Liberia, two in Central African Republic, and one each in Mali, Haiti and South Sudan.
The other alleged perpetrators included five civilians from host countries working for the U.N., 10 civilians helping to implement U.N. programs, and three U.N. consultants, Dujarric said.
The alleged victims included at least 24 women and six girls, he said.
As for the allegations, Dujarric said an investigation had substantiated one claim involving UNHCR.
He said 13 others — including two involving UNHCR — were at various stages in the investigative process, 10 others were under preliminary assessment, and seven where limited information had been provided were under review.
The first victims’ rights advocate, Jane Connors, who was appointed as part of Guterres’ initiative, just returned from a visit to Central African Republic with the U.N. chief. Last year, the violence-torn country had the highest number of misconduct allegations against peacekeepers in the world.
Connors told reporters Friday that her priority “is to give visibility to those who have suffered ... and support them as they rebuild their lives.”
Victims in the Central African Republic are getting medical assistance, food and psychological and social support, Connors said, and she talked to them “about their wishes and needs and aspirations, and how they saw their lives going forward.”
St Mary’s board to meet on sex abuse claims
at Trinidad care home
The Board of the St Mary’ Children Home is expected to meet on Monday to discuss the latest claims of sexual abuse at the Tacarigua based home.
The investigation was launched at the Tacarigua-based St Mary’s Children’s Home into claims of sexual abuse by 19 of its residents. The children, who are wards of the State between the ages of four and 14, told social workers assigned to the Children’s Authority the alleged perpetrators are other wards whose ages range between 12 and 17.
The alleged victims, 14 boys and five girls, were yesterday taken to the San Fernando Teaching Hospital where doctors examined them. The arrangements were made after members of the Child Protection Unit (CPU) visited the institution on Thursday.
The children are expected to be moved to safe houses after they have been seen by doctors. They will be placed under the care and supervision of the Children’s Authority pending the outcome of the investigation.
A source revealed that one of the alleged victims confided in a relative about what was taking place at the home and the relative made a report to members of the Children’s Authority. This led to several social workers being assigned to the home to interview the children.
The social workers were told the incidences of sexual assault have been happening for sometime with the last one taking place on Thursday. The five boys said they were assaulted by male inmates who have also confessed to being similarly assaulted by other inmates in the past.
The girls initially appeared to be very secretive about the acts allegedly committed against them but they were convinced to speak out.
Cheryl Moses, the Children Authority’s communications manager, yesterday responded to questions emailed to her by Newsday about its intervention at the home. “The Children’s Authority of Trinidad and Tobago is currently investigating reports it has received,” Moses said.
“As is customary, once the Authority receives a report, the investigation process is initiated, as in this case. The investigations are continuing and the Authority will work assiduously to secure any children found to be in need of care and protection, in order to determine what interventions would be appropriate in the best interest of each child.”
Assistant Superintendent Beverly Paul-Rodriguez of the CPU confirmed the unit was told about the allegations. Paul-Rodriguez said the unit has had reports from the home in the past, but this is the first time it has been informed of such a large number of children complaining about sexual abuse at that institution.
“It is not a nice feeling because these children are victims twice,” she said referring to the fact the children were placed at the home as wards of the State. She believes there are not enough checks and balances at some children’s homes and there are several lapses in proper supervision. Paul-Rodriguez said the unit will be working closely with the Children’s Authority in this particular investigation.
ACP in charge of crime Irwin Hackshaw yesterday echoed her views. He said the report of alleged sexual abuse against the 19 children was brought to his attention and he is closely monitoring the development of the investigation.
He assured, the police through the Child Protection Unit will continue to do its part in protecting children and other persons from predators. He advised any member of the public who has information on suspected sexual abuse against children to report the matter to any police officer in the area in which they live.
In 2010, former Social Development minister Dr Glen Ramadharsingh said, “The St Mary’s Children’s Home in Tacarigua will be continuously monitored.” That same year, a committee established to look into mental, physical and sexual abuse of children at the home found nothing substantive to support allegations of abuse.
The former government had promised legislation to protect wards at children’s home and people at homes for the aged.
The St. Mary’s home has always been co-educational with the Anglican Church, in collaboration with the Government, administering its affairs. The Bishop of Trinidad has always been the chairman of the board of management, ably assisted by other social workers. But there has been a changing face of the building where many children call their home. Among the children who are taken there are those whose parents have been afflicted by drug abuse and are unable to provide for them. There are children who have been placed there after being abandoned, or physically or sexually abused.
Attempts to reach Anglican Bishop Claude Berkeley proved futile as calls to his cell phone went unanswered.
Indian man arrested for raping 18-month-old girl;
child badly injured
NEW DELHI: A man accused of raping a toddler in front of his own children has been arrested in India, police said Friday, the latest in a series of sex attacks against minors in the country.
The 18-month-old girl was playing next door with her neighbours' two children, aged two and four on Wednesday, when she was allegedly raped by their father in their one-room home, police said.
The girl, who is recovering at a New Delhi hospital, was found dumped outside her house bleeding and in pain by her mother after the alleged assault.
The suspect was arrested on Thursday, said Harinder Singh, an officer in the Aman Vihar neighbourhood where the assault apparently took place.
He has been charged under India's Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, which means he could face life imprisonment.
The head of the Delhi Commission for Women Swati Maliwal met the child and said she was in a stable condition after undergoing surgery.
"The poor child cannot even speak, she is just lying there," Maliwal said.
The attack adds to a grim record of sexual assaults on women and children in India.
Nearly 11,000 cases of child rape were reported in 2015, according to the National Crime Records Bureau's latest figures.
About three children are raped every day in Delhi alone, it said.
And those are just the ones we know about.
A UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2014 said one in three rape victims in India was a minor and expressed alarm over the widespread sexual abuse of children. -- AFP
I suggest it is more than 1 in 3. Children are voiceless when it comes to sexual abuse and much more goes on than we are aware of. More than half of all children suffer sexual abuse in India so if the numbers above are true then it must mean that nearly all women suffer from sex abuse.
Former Met Police Commissioner
'lied in VIP child abuse interview'
Lord Hogan-Howe when he was Met Police Commissioner
Martin Evans
Lord Hogan-Howe, the former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, is to be investigated over his conduct during Scotland Yard's flawed VIP child abuse inquiry.
Months after retiring as Britain’s most senior police officer, Lord Hogan-Howe is set to be probed over a radio interview he gave at the height of Operation Midland in which he allegedly lied.
The controversial historic sex abuse inquiry was launched in 2014 after a single complainant, known as Nick, told police a powerful group of establishment figures, including senior politicians, had raped and murdered children in the 1970s and 1980s.
During a public appeal for information in December 2014, a senior Met detective described Nick's allegations as "credible and true".
But after two years and more than £2.5 million, the Met was forced to apologise, when it emerged the claims were allegedly false and malicious.
Now a year after a report found the Met had made 43 failings during the inquiry, Lord Hogan-Howe is to be investigated by the London Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), who oversee disciplinary issues regarding the Commissioner.
The investigation will focus on comments he made during a broadcast on LBC radio, in September 2015, in which he insisted he had not approved the use of the phrase "credible and true" and it had actually been an unfortunate slip of the tongue by a senior detective.
During the interview, Lord Hogan-Howe told presenter Nick Ferrari: "As you know one of our superintendents, in making a quick recourse in an interview, said the words 'credible and true'."
"What we have said in a statement, which people might have seen...is that he was credible at the beginning and we had to corroborate what he said.
"We said that if the use of the word 'true', if it left the understanding – the belief – that we were closed minded about the outcome, that was wrong."
He went on: "We are just treating the person [Nick] as a witness. We are working our way through what their allegations are."
But former Tory MP, Harvey Proctor, who was one of those falsely accused by Nick of taking part in the abuse, has always insisted Lord Hogan-Howe knew about and had approved use of the phrase.
Mr Proctor initially asked the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to examine the matter but it said it was not a matter for the body. However MOPAC has confirmed it will now look into the matter, despite the fact Lord Hogan-Howe retired from the force in February.
If the allegation is found to be true Lord Hogan-Howe could be asked to apologise to Mr Proctor over the matter. A spokesman for MOPAC said it was considering the allegations and considering whether to launch an investigation.
"The complainant has agreed that we will seek to resolve his complaint through local resolution and those discussions are ongoing," he added.
Lord Hogan-Howe retired in February after five and a half years as the country's top police officer. Last month it was announced he is to join the House of Lords where he will sit on the cross benches.
The Telegraph was unable to reach Lord Hogan-Howe for comment.
Things have gotten very bad but the State
doesn’t want to know
Áilín Quinlan
SEXUAL harassment is endemic in Irish society. Ask any woman in this country, and she’ll probably report an experience of it in some form.
Áilín Quinlan
Whether it’s a lewd comment, an unwelcome sexual advance from a fellow student or colleague, or worse, only a lucky few have escaped without experiencing any of it.
Personally, I’m not a member of that small group. Yet despite the fact this is acknowledged to be a widespread and very severe problem — look at the number of sexual assault, harassment and child sexual abuse court cases in the newspapers any day of the week and then try to imagine the avalanche of incidents that go unreported — the issue of sexual violence here is not taken seriously.
It’s hard not to be shocked by the government’s seeming reluctance to commission — a full 15 years after the first study — a second Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland report. Given our legislature’s historical predilection for mind-bogglingly expensive and — to many people — numbingly boring, tribunals and referendums often ordered into being at the drop of a hat, the government doesn’t seem at all interested in getting a real picture of sexual violence in Ireland today.
Not just Ireland, most western countries are in denial.
I’d really like to know why. Is it because our male-dominated government simply thinks the issue of sexual violence is not important? Is it because, as was the case with serious crime in old communist Russia, they are uncomfortable about giving the problem more visibility? Because certainly the first SAVI report back in 2002 pulled no punches, capturing both reported and unreported incidents of sexual assault and highlighted how certain sectors, such as people with intellectual disability and members of the Travelling community, were victims of sexual violence.
Now, 15 years on, when primary schools are grappling with issues such as 12-year-olds accessing and swapping hard-core porn on their phones and sixth class children talking about oral sex, when very young teenage girls are being coerced and brainwashed into giving it to boys as a rite of passage, when social media and online sexual abuse is part of our daily lives, the government apparently feels no need to investigate how the situation is changing on the ground. It’s a case of see no evil, hear no evil speak no evil.
The result of all this is a massive level of ignorance about a very serious problem which, given the fact that nearly every child now has an internet-enabled smart-phone, means that children are becoming sexually aware much earlier.
A young female chef based in a thriving restaurant in an Irish city told me recently that the extent of sexual harassment in the food industry in this country is beyond belief.
She’s been the target of incredibly blatant, sexually hostile, lewd and demeaning comments and has been pinched and slapped and otherwise physically/sexually assaulted.
Yet, as I found when I explained her rights to her, this twenty-something had absolutely no idea that she had any. Rights, that is. She hadn’t reported any of the harassment, because she didn’t know she could. And you know why that is? Nobody really talks about sexual harassment and the government doesn’t want to know about it so nothing is done, and it’s going on all the time.
In the third level education sector, the Smart Consent Survey shows that female students’ experience of sexual harassment in all forms — sexist hostility, sexual hostility, unwanted sexual attention, online sexual harassment and sexual coercion actually increased between first and third year.
The research showed that more than 70% of third year students had experienced sexist and sexual hostility and unwanted sexual attention.
It found that just under 40% had experienced sexual coercion, while more than a third has experienced sexual harassment through online media.
Another, separate study carried out at NUIG, indicated that 25% of women had experienced either physically threatening contact or attempted unwanted physical contact - and that 25% of female second year students said someone had sexual contact with them when they were unable to provide consent or stop what was happening because they were passed out, drunk, drugged or otherwise incapacitated.
Of course, Ireland has no monopoly on sexual harassment and abuse. One newspaper had four separate stories on sexual abuse on the same page one day this week. There was the Weinstein sexual abuse allegation, the story about Kevin Spacey, reports of fresh claims against Roman Polanski, and the disclosure by prominent British Labour activist Bex Bailey, that she was raped at a party event in 2011 and felt discouraged from reporting it as she felt it could have damaged her career.
There are many sexual predators out there and too often, they’re getting away with it. And they’re getting away with it for a lot of reasons.
First the downward pressure from the porn industry via the internet is ‘normalising’ a lot of behaviour that would otherwise be rightly perceived as outrageously sexually aggressive.
Then there’s a shocking lack of awareness about rights and the issue of consent. Underpinning all of this, is the State’s lack of interest in really establishing out exactly how bad things have become (very, very bad) through an accurate medium like a fresh SAVI report.
Last but not least, is the lack of a really good, prolonged, awareness-raising campaign about sexual violence and how to counteract and report it. It’s not rocket science.
Paraguayan international Jonathan Fabbro
accused of child sexual abuse
— for second time in three months
His 11-year-old goddaughter had accused of a string of sexual assaults — and now a second under-age girl has come forward
By Steve Goodman
PARAGUAY international Jonathan Fabbro has been accused of child sexual abuse — for the second time in three months, according to reports
The midfielder, 35, who has played in Spain for Real Mallorca, is currently with Mexican club Lobos BUAP and he has spent time with leading Argentine outfits Boca Juniors and River Plate.
Born in Buenos Aires, he has won 13 Paraguay caps since switching nationality. He was voted the country's 2012 Player of the Year.
However Fabbro's 11-year-old goddaughter accused him in July of a string of sexual assaults.
Second girl to accuse Jonathan Fabbro is relative of wife Larissa Riquelme - REUTERS
Prosecutors in the Paraguayan city Cerro Porteno opened an enquiry, and lawyers acting for the girl's family called for Fabbro to be arrested when he returns to the country.
The footballer's girlfriend, celebrity model Larissa Riquelme, insisted at the time: "We as a couple know what the truth is in this case."
However a second under-age girl has now accused Fabbro of sexually assaulting her in 2015.
