Unfair punishment on investigator who documented rape case in SL - UN Judge
May 29, 2013 11:41 pm
A judge
has ruled that the U.N. refugee agency unfairly punished one of its
investigators for documenting a rape case in Sri Lanka a decade ago.
U.N.
Dispute Tribunal Judge Coral Shaw says former investigator Caroline
Hunt-Matthes lost her job at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees due to retaliation and suffered other damages after she collected
evidence in 2003 that an agency employee had raped a refugee in Sri Lanka.
Wednesday’s
twin rulings, which can be appealed, are critical of the U.N.’s accountability
system, including its ethics office, and award Hunt-Matthes a year’s salary and
benefits, plus $58,000 for her damages and suffering.
Hunt-Matthes
told The Associated Press that the long-running case is “a consummate story of
abuse of power” by U.N.’s oversight unit. (AP)
