UN rights official resigns over Central African Republic child sexual abuse

Associated Press at the United Nations
Wednesday 22 July 2015 20.53 BST

The UN rights official who admitted not following up for months on allegations of child sexual abuse by French soldiers in Central African Republic has resigned.

The UN confirmed on Wednesday that Flavia Pansieri has left the post of deputy high commissioner for human rights “for health reasons”. No more details were given.

The allegations by several children as young as nine of trading oral sex and sodomy for food with French soldiers tasked with protecting civilians in the violence-torn country didn’t become public until late April, almost a year after UN staffers first heard the children’s stories. Pansieri’s comments and other leaked documents led the UN secretary general this summer to order an investigation into how the UN handled the case.

In a confidential statement for a separate internal investigation, obtained by the Associated Press, Pansieri said she had been distracted from the case by other issues, including budget cuts for several months. “I regret to say that in the context of those very hectic days, I failed to follow up on the CAR situation,” Pansieri said in the statement dated 26 March.

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