Tuesday, November 01, 2005

KOSOVO: UN OFFICIAL JAILED FOR SEXUAL ABUSE

An official of the United Nations mission in Kosovo (Unmik), Rashidon Khan, has been sentenced to three years in jail for molesting a minor, his lawyer Tom Gashi said Monday night. Khan, a Pakistani, was arrested last January on charges of molesting a person less than 16 years of age and of falsifying an official document. He pleaded guilty to both charges, said Gashi.

At the time of arrest Khan was the head of Pristina office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but there was no comment from Unmik.

Gashi said Khan was sentenced on Monday by a three-judge council, comprising two local and an international judge.

Allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN staff more than doubled last year, UN secretary general Kofi Annan said in a report in May.

Most of the allegations, which include rape, sexual assault and sex with minors, involved UN peacekeepers. In June, the UN Security Council held its first ever session dedicated to the issue.

Prince Zeid Raad Zeid al-Hussein, special advisor to the secretary general on sexual abuse within the UN, said however rare they may be, abuses by peacekeepers were not only repugnant, but tarnished the credibility of both the operation in question and the United Nations as a whole.

1 comment:

Kosovar2006 said...

Yes I'm not surprising and btw KFOR and other millitary forces in Balknas drive the sex trade not albanians