Child abuse allegations and denials between NGOs continue.
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Child abuse allegations and denials between NGOs continue.
This is extremely confusing, but Friends International and First Step Cambodia are distancing themselves from allegations made against an ex-director of APLE,by former colleagues and possibly another ex-director of APLE, while running an orphanage called Our Home. The Ministry for Social Affairs is also involved.
I wouldn't presume to guess who is innocent and who is guilty here, and I don't know anyone involved, but it looks like a terrible mess for all concerned. A number of people working in high positions in NGOs to protect children are accusing each other of child abuse and defamation.
I would hate to be cynical enough to believe that these organizations are involved in a power struggle over who gets the biggest slice of the donor money.
This is certainly not doing any good for child protection in Cambodia.
The whole article is here: https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo- ... ted-81395/
Apparently, there are conflicting reports on who reported what :
I wouldn't presume to guess who is innocent and who is guilty here, and I don't know anyone involved, but it looks like a terrible mess for all concerned. A number of people working in high positions in NGOs to protect children are accusing each other of child abuse and defamation.
I would hate to be cynical enough to believe that these organizations are involved in a power struggle over who gets the biggest slice of the donor money.
This is certainly not doing any good for child protection in Cambodia.
The whole article is here: https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo- ... ted-81395/
Apparently, there are conflicting reports on who reported what :
Child protection NGO Friends International said this week it will contest being officially cited as the originator of allegations of sexual misconduct at Our Home orphanage that led to the center’s closure last month and to the imprisonment of its director, Hang Vibol, on suspicion of sexually abusing boys in his care.
Mr. Vibol, a former director of anti-pedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), ran the Our Home orphanage and school from 1999 until it was shut down by the Ministry of Social Affairs on March 5 following his arrest two days earlier. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged him with indecently assaulting a number of the children under his care and he remains in prison awaiting trial.
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Friends International quickly distanced itself from the case,explaining that it had simply helped two people report concerning behavior at the center, which did not contain the serious allegations of sexual abuse later reported by APLE.
The accused alleges retaliation by ex-APLE president.Alastair Hilton, technical adviser at First Step Cambodia, said his organization assisted Friends International by meeting with the individuals who originally raised their concerns about Our Home and described that meeting in the letter that was sent to the ministry.
Mr. Hilton said that as far as he was aware, the letter did not constitute a formal complaint and the concerns it aired were not the same allegations as those that emerged after APLE’s investigation.
“Technically, it wasn’t a complaint. If our organizations come across any bad practices at an NGO, we raise the concerns with authorities,” Mr. Hilton said.
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Mr. Hilton said he was bound by confidentiality to protect the identities of the complainants, but that none of the information reported by the media was familiar to him, and the information conveyed by the individuals was of a general nature.
“There was nothing at that stage to suggest the kinds of things that emerged in the papers, it was more generally about inappropriate sexual behavior between teenagers,” he said, adding that initial reports did not include any accusations against specific individuals.
Following his arrest, Mr. Vibol denied the allegations. He accused APLE’s founder and former president Thierry Darnaudet of orchestrating a spurious investigation in retaliation for a report that Mr. Vibol filed with the government in 2013, which was dismissed by authorities but also contained child sex abuse claims against Mr. Darnaudet.
Mr. Vibol named two former colleagues at Our Home—with whom he had personal disputes—as the complainants, claiming that they were acting on orders from Mr. Darnaudet.
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Mr. Vibol’s lawyer Suy Sokhon said yesterday his client maintains that the three men have conspired against him.
“Three people: Thierry Darnaudet, Pisethdara, and Jean Marie. They might not have filed the complaints, but these men have stage managed this,” he said, adding that 10 children who lived at the orphanage have promised to provide testimony in his client’s defense.
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