Kenya disputes UN probe accusing Haiti mission of sexual abuse

NAIROBI, April 9 (Reuters) – Kenya has disputed a U.N. report saying an investigation had found substantiated allegations of sexual abuse involving members of a U.N.-backed anti-gang force in Haiti that is staffed mostly by Kenyan police officers.

In a report dated February 16 and first reported on last week, the U.N. said four allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse from last year against the force had been substantiated by its Human Rights Office. 

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this week, Kenya’s Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi said the allegations had been looked into by a Kenyan board of inquiry and “found to be unsubstantiated”.

“Investigations conducted were impartial and shared with all relevant stakeholders, including U.N. human rights offices,” Mudavadi wrote.

A U.N. representative in Kenya did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Thursday.

Kenya supplies most of the personnel to the roughly 1,000-strong force, which first deployed in June 2024 to combat the gangs that control most of Haiti’s capital. 

There were widespread sexual abuse and exploitation accusations, including allegations of child victims, ⁠against ​U.N. peacekeepers under the MINUSTAH mission in Haiti ​from 2004 to 2017. Only a few peacekeepers were prosecuted by their home countries.

(Reporting by Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Aaron Ross and Hugh Lawson)