According to The Guardian, the UN employee accused of the leak, Swedish national Anders Kompass, turned the report over to French authorities because his bosses had failed to take action, and has since been suspended.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed that UN rights investigators had conducted a probe last year following “serious allegations” of child abuse and sexual exploitation by French troops, and that an unnamed staff member had been suspended for leaking the report.
AIDS Free World is pushing for a commission of inquiry to shed light on sexual misconduct by peacekeepers and has accused the UN of covering up crimes committed by troops sent in to protect civilians.
Amnesty International said the allegations “reinforce the need to put an end to impunity for crimes under international law committed during the conflict, no matter who those suspected of criminal responsibility may be”.
The attorney general of the Central African Republic said the allegations were “extremely serious” and slammed the UN for failing to tell his government of the claims.
“NGOs and UN bodies took to the field without informing us, we don’t understand why,” Ghislain Gresenguet said, adding that he had opened an investigation.
A member of the Central African Republic’s government who wished to remain anonymous said that if true, the allegations were “horrible and unacceptable”.
“French soldiers cannot behave like this in a country where they came to help civilians.”
If verified, this would not be the first sexual abuse scandal to hit peacekeeping forces — examples abound, including in Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and Somalia.
– Fears for CAR peace efforts –
The allegations, if proven, will not only affect the French army but also the Central African Republic itself, which is trying to find a way out of a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced nearly 900,000 people.
The violence has largely pitted the Christian majority against mainly Muslim Seleka rebels who led the March 2013 coup against former leader Francois Bozize.
“Overall, I know that the French military presence has been helpful,” said David Smith, an expert on the Central African Republic.
“If they hadn’t been there, the airport couldn’t have stayed open and that would have meant no emergency aid could have come in, no medical supplies, food.
“The hopes for success with the peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic are weak at the best of times. Moving the French out of there would make it even weaker,” he added.
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