UN suspends ties after CAR charity head identified as Belgian paedophile
22 November 2019
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-5 ... ow_twitter
The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs has suspended its links with the Catholic development agency Caritas over the allegations
The UN has suspended work with Catholic charity Caritas in the Central African Republic (CAR) after it emerged that its country director was a convicted paedophile.
The UN's humanitarian agency said there were "serious allegations of abuse against minors" in CAR by the charity's former director, Belgian priest Father Luk Delft.
He has been removed from his post and is no longer in the CAR, Caritas says.
CAR officials are investigating.
Belgian and Catholic Church officials are also investigating.
A complaint for sexual abuse of a minor has been lodged against the priest, the public prosecutor in the CAR capital Bangui told AFP news agency.
The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it had a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and abuse.
OCHA told the BBC that those links would remain suspended until the ongoing investigations reached a clear outcome.
Delft was convicted in 2012 and given a suspended sentence for sex assaults going back to 2001, AFP reported. He was also banned for 10 years from any role that would bring him into contact with children and young people.
However he was sent to CAR in 2013 and took up a role with Caritas in 2015, according to the Dignity foundation, a body set up by the Catholic Church to fight abuse.
The priest worked for two years in Kaga Bandoro, a city in the north of the country, before being appointed as Caritas's national executive secretary in CAR, AFP said.
Caritas said it was "saddened and outraged" by the allegations of abuse and said it was working to improve its safeguarding policies towards children.
STATEMENT REGARDING FORMER CARITAS CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC DIRECTOR LUK DELFT
https://www.caritas.org/2019/11/apology/
says Aloysius John, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis.Caritas is saddened and outraged by the child abuse reported by CNN in its story on Luk Delft, a Belgian religious priest who was a previous national director of Caritas Central African Republic. We express our compassion and solidarity with the children and their families. We thank those who have come forward. They have our full support in telling their truth. At Caritas, we are constantly working to improve our safeguarding of children both in the Central African Republic and in the rest of the world where Caritas works to help people in need. Our first duty is to protect those we serve,
Caritas Internationalis understands that those responsible have ensured that the accused is no longer in the Central African Republic, and both civil and religious authorities have been notified and are investigating the allegations. Caritas Internationalis is assisting the local Caritas in the Central African Republic as it investigates the allegations, strengthens its safeguarding mechanisms and offers care and support to any possible victims and their families. Caritas Internationalis has asked all national organisations worldwide to vet their governance, staff, volunteers and international staff.
Caritas encourages anyone with a safeguarding concern to report to the local Police. A report can also be made to Caritas Internationalis on [email protected].
Media requests on Central African Republic to Thierry Bonaventura – +39 3516197118 [email protected]
21/11/2019
