Assange hails 'victory' from embassy balcony after UN panel ruling

Yahoo – AFP, Jacques Klopp, February 5, 2016

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addresses the media holding a printed report 

of the judgement of the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on his case

 from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in central London on February 5, 

2016 (AFP Photo/Niklas Halle'n)

London (AFP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday urged Britain to let him walk free from Ecuador's London embassy after a UN panel found that the anti-secrecy campaigner who faces a rape allegation in Sweden was "arbitrarily detained."

Speaking to a handful of supporters and a media scrum in a rare appearance from the balcony of the embassy where he took refuge nearly four years ago, Assange hailed a "victory of historical importance".

"How sweet it is! This is a victory that cannot be denied," he proclaimed, waving a hard copy of the legal opinion and often seeming emotional.

Assange has refused to go to Sweden for questioning fearing deportation to the US over WikiLeaks' release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A look back at the key dates in the life of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

(AFP Photo/Kun Tian, Thomas Saint-Cricq)

Earlier, the 44-year-old Australian told journalists via video link that it was "now the task of the states of Sweden and the United Kingdom as a whole to implement the verdict".

The UN panel said Assange's detention should end and that he should be able to claim compensation from Britain and Sweden.

But both countries quickly dismissed the non-binding legal opinion, with Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond calling it "ridiculous".

Assange walked into the embassy in June 2012 to avoid the threat of arrest and extradition to Sweden, where he still faces a rape allegation.

He has lived there ever since in a small office room with a bed, computer, sun lamp, treadmill and access to a small balcony decorated with Ecuador's flag.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo 

Patino speaks during a press conference

 in Quito on February 5, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Rodrigo Buendia)

In a statement, the panel said it had adopted an opinion that considered Assange "arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

It added: "The working group also considered that the detention should be brought to an end and that Mr Assange should be afforded the right to compensation."

Fears of imprisonment

Britain and Sweden sharply condemned the panel's findings and said they would change nothing.

Hammond called Assange "a fugitive from justice."

"This is frankly a ridiculous finding by the working group and we reject it," the foreign secretary added.

Sweden's foreign ministry said that it "does not agree" with the assessment.

"Mr Assange is free to leave the embassy at any point and Swedish authorities have no control over his decision to stay at the embassy," the ministry added.

Only three of the five members of the UN panel supported the opinion -- one recused herself because she is Australian, like Assange, and another member disagreed.

British designer Vivienne Westwood displays a British passport after arriving to visit

 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador's embassy in central London, on

February 4, 2016 (AFP Photo/Chris Ratcliffe)

Christophe Peschoux, the working group's secretary, said at a briefing in Geneva that Britain and Sweden had two months to submit new information to force a review, and Britain says it will contest the opinion.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said it was "time for both governments... to allow Julian Assange his freedom."

Swedish authorities want to speak to Assange about a rape allegation whose statute of limitations does not expire until 2020.

Elizabeth Fritz, the lawyer for the woman who has accused Assange, criticised the panel's comments.

"That a man who is wanted on an arrest warrant for rape should be awarded compensation for intentionally hiding from the judicial system for more than five years is offensive to my client," she said.

Swedish judicial authorities said last month that Ecuador had refused its request to let a Swedish prosecutor question Assange because Quito wanted an Ecuadorean prosecutor to do the questioning.

British Foreign Secretary Philip

Hammond described the UN panels'

decision on Wikileaks founder Julian 

Assange as "ridiculous" as he 

met journalists in London, on 

February 5, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Niklas Halle'n)

'Publicity stunt'

Assange fears that if he went to Sweden for questioning, he could then be sent to the US and face prison. 

WikiLeaks' activities -- including the release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- have infuriated the US.

The main source of the leaks, US Army soldier Chelsea Manning, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for breaches of the Espionage Act.

A hero to supporters and a dangerous egocentric to detractors, the computer programmer and hacker, whose celebrity fans include fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and singer Lady Gaga, founded WikiLeaks in 2006 and has been portrayed in two movies in recent years.

Britain spent over £10 million (12 million euros, $15 million) maintaining a 24-hour guard outside the embassy to immediately arrest Assange if he set foot on British soil, but withdrew it last year.

The Assange case has polarised opinion in Britain and there were many criticisms of his conduct Friday.

The Guardian newspaper, which has in the past worked with WikiLeaks to publish secret documents, used an editorial to condemn the latest developments as "a publicity stunt."

Julian #Assange should be able to walk free and claim compensation, UN panel says: https://t.co/3K7c4d7XKF pic.twitter.com/9WcaQsz7lw

— AFP London (@afplondon) February 5, 2016

Related Article:

Timeline: Julian Assange's story so far

Britain's Lord Sewel resigns after cocaine and prostitutes scandal

Yahoo – AFP, Katherine Haddon, 28 July 2015

Lord John Sewel apologised after pictures in The Sun newspaper appeared to 

show him snorting cocaine with prostitutes (AFP Photo)

London (AFP) - A British peer who was in charge of lawmakers' ethics quit the House of Lords on Tuesday after allegedly snorting cocaine off a prostitute's breasts, fuelling calls for reform of the unelected upper chamber.

Lord John Sewel, 69, apologised for the "pain and embarrassment" caused after the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun newspaper published footage of him apparently taking drugs and wearing an orange bra and studded leather jacket as he chatted to two sex workers.

The images also showed him calling Prime Minister David Cameron "facile" and "superficial" and insulting several other senior politicians.

The scandal has prompted renewed calls
for reforms to slim down the House of 
Lords, made up of 783 peers (AFP Photo/
Toby Melville)

Scotland Yard has launched an investigation and raided Sewel's home at an exclusive block of flats near the Houses of Parliament on Monday night.

While reforming the House of Lords is not a priority for Cameron's centre-right government, the case has sparked calls for the chamber -- the world's largest legislative assembly outside China -- to be slimmed down.

"I have today written to the clerk of the parliaments terminating my membership of the House of Lords," Sewel, previously a deputy speaker of the Lords, said in a statement.

"I want to apologise for the pain and embarrassment I have caused."

The Sun on Tuesday quoted the escorts as saying he snorted up to eight lines of cocaine and described one of their sessions.

"He slipped into a woman's blue dress and applied lipstick and eyeliner to engage in depraved sex games too obscene to report in a family newspaper," the tabloid said.

'Bloated' House of Lords

The married 69-year-old, dubbed "Lord Sewer" by The Sun, quit his £82,525 (115,000 euro, $128,000) a year deputy speaker post overseeing the conduct of fellow peers when the scandal first broke Sunday.

He then announced Monday that he would take a leave of absence from the Lords but faced growing pressure to step down entirely.

Members of the Lords - mostly former ministers appointed by their own political

parties - can claim a £300 daily attendance allowance (AFP Photo/Justin Tallis)

Several British newspapers said Tuesday that the case showed changes were needed to the House of Lords, made up of 783 peers who can claim a £300 daily attendance allowance.

Most members of the Lords, which scrutinises and rubber stamps legislation, are former ministers appointed by their own political parties.

The Daily Mirror, The Sun's main tabloid rival, launched a campaign Tuesday to get rid of all unelected peers.

Meanwhile, The Times said the House of Lords was "bloated" and its numbers should be reduced.

"An unelected chamber with esoteric practices and a median age of about 70 cannot afford to enter the public consciousness only when its members are embroiled in scandal," it said in an editorial.

Cameron is expected to create a string of new peers from his Conservative party in the coming months to give him a majority in the upper chamber, making it easier for his government to pass legislation.

The prime minister reportedly ruled out sweeping reforms to the Lords on a visit to Singapore, saying there was "no point in trying that route again" after a failed bid in 2012 pushed by his former coalition partners the Liberal Democrats.

Ten members of the Lords have been temporarily suspended since 2009

for breaches including abusing the expenses system (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)

'Privileges of a peerage'

Leader of the House of Lords Baroness Tina Stowell acknowledged the importance of public perceptions of the chamber as she welcomed Sewel's resignation.

"For the House of Lords to earn the confidence of the public, all of us must respect the privileges that come with a peerage and recognise that, because we are unelected, it is especially important to meet the standards the public have a right to expect," she said.

Sewel is a former academic and local politician in northeast Scotland who was appointed as a junior agriculture minister in Tony Blair's centre-left Labour government in 1997.

He gave up the Labour whip in 2012 when he took on the job of overseeing the conduct of peers.

Ironically, Sewel oversaw the introduction of a new system under which peers can be forced out of the Lords for breaching a code of conduct. Previously, only the monarch could eject them.

Ten peers have been temporarily suspended since 2009 for breaches including abusing the expenses system and offering to lobby for private companies.

A British politician, Lord John Sewel, has resigned from the House of Lords after

 a newspaper published a video allegedly showing him using cocaine with prostitutes.

Sewel was in charge of standards in the upper chamber.

Related Articles:

British peer quits House of Lords amid drug and sex allegations


"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…5 - Integrity That May Surprise…

The Unthinkable… Politics, A Review

Humans will begin to search for integrity and fairness and it's going to happen in the places you never expect. I said this last week, so this is a review. There'll come a time when you will demand this of your politics - fairness and integrity. So when the candidates start calling each other names, you will turn your back on them and they won't get any votes. They're going to get the point real fast, don't you think? How about that?

Let me give you another potential. This country that I sit in right now [USA] will set the mold for that particular attribute. I have no clock. Watch for the youngsters to set this in motion, and they will, for they are the voters of tomorrow and they do not want the energy of today. To some of them, it's so abominable they won't even register to vote in this energy. You're going to see this soon. That was number five.. ..."

US domestic surveillance in limbo after Senate vote

US domestic surveillance programs involving the mass collection of data on private telephone calls face an uncertain future after two votes in the Senate. Debate is to continue later this month.

Deutsche Welle, 23 May 2015

The US Senate rejected legislation early Saturday to reform the way domestic spy agencies collect vast amount of data on Americans' telephone calls, in a blow to President Barack Obama.

The so-called USA Freedom Act, which passed easily in the House of Representatives last week, fell three votes short of the 60 votes necessary for it to advance.

The bill, strongly backed by Obama, would have ended the bulk collection of phone data, replacing it with a more targeted system in which case-by-case authorization would have been given to search records held by phone companies rather than government authorities.

In another vote, the Senate also blocked legislation that would have extended by two months provisions of the USA Patriot Act allowing the mass collection of telephone records. The provisions expire on June 1.

Programs in jeopardy

The votes means further uncertainty on the future of the US surveillance programs, which many Americans see as infringing on their civil liberties, while intelligence agencies consider them as essential in the battle against terrorism.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking after the votes, said the Senate would return to Washington on May 31 - cutting short its Memorial Day holiday break by one day - to debate ways of preventing the expiry of the surveillance measures.

"We'll have a week to discuss it. We'll have one day to do it. But we better be ready next Sunday afternoon to prevent the country from being in danger by the total expiration of the program that we're all familiar with," he said.

Snowden's revelations on NSA
activities caused shockwaves
throughout the world

Offers to extend the Patriot Act provisions into the first week of June were also rejected.

"Our forefathers would be aghast" at the amount of spying done on Americans, said Senator Rand Paul, a Republican 2016 presidential candidate who has long-demanded an end to the telephone data dragnet.

The extent of the US domestic surveillance program was revealed in 2013 by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, provoking outrage in some quarters that millions of private telephone records were being held.

The Patriot Act was passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks in a bid to increase national security.

tj/sms (AP, Reuters, AFP)

Related Articles:

A: NSA bulk phone records collection to end despite USA Freedom Act failure

Kryon Q&A

Question (Sep 21, 2001): Lee, how could Kryon have been so wrong? He said there would be no war, and that all would be good in these end times?

Answer: Questions like this are uncommon, since most who follow the Kryon work know that this is not what Kryon said at all. For clarity, however, and for those who may have only read one book in the series, I wish to summarize what Kryon has told us of our future potentials.

First of all, Kryon told us twelve years ago in Kryon Book One, The End Times, that we had changed the paradigm of the future on earth. We had voided the Armageddon as prophesied, and were headed toward the potential of a new consciousness on the planet… one of great promise. He indicated that the magnetic grid of earth would change to accommodate our new abilities (it did) and he told us that all the wars in these times would be tribal (they seem to be). Then he said that up to one percent of earth’s population might have to leave to accomplish all this (hardly a feel-good fact! - page 97). Do you remember this statement on page 101 regarding the future? “… many will terminate and return with new powers. Also, the transition to this new age of self determination and power will be filled with changes. Things will not remain the same for any of you…” He also gave us a date of 1999 where we might have an unbalanced leader creating chaos (page 23) This could have been Bosnia, or the beginning of what just happened. All of this was given within the first Kryon book, over a decade ago.

Indeed, communism fell over all by itself in the late 1980’s and there was no nuclear war. The time-line for the Armageddon as prophesied, passed, and many were aware that we were headed in a new direction – one that nobody had foreseen.

As the Kryon books unfolded into the new millennium, he gave us a great deal of personal information and methods for finding the divinity within ourselves. He always indicated that peace on earth began with individual work, and gave us invitations to change our DNA. Within the books he told us of the profundity of the 11:11 many times, where Humans had given permission to change the end. Then came Book 8, Passing the Marker. As I have indicated before, Book 8 probably gave us more information about what we are experiencing than any other. He told us that there would be "no more fence sitting." (page 217). This meant that there could be no more "in between" attitudes regarding what was happening on the planet-that the old vs. the new would create this. Many would be "torn off the fence," he said. On Sunday September 30, 2001, both Colin Powell, the United States Secretary of State, and the King of Jordan, HM King Abdullah II, were interviewed at separate times. Both used the phrase, "Getting off the fence."

Kryon also indicated a "pull backwards" of apparent stability and peace, and even predicted the potential of the uprising of Israel in 2000 (page 182). He used the term "spiritual rage" for the first time, as well, and also told us that we were in for a Battle between the old and new. He said, "Don't be shocked and surprised if that war is not over. In fact, in some cases, the battle has just begun!" (page 183).

In August, a few weeks before the tragedy, the channelling in Vancouver was on world unity! Listen to what he said about the United States (to be published shortly in the Sedona Journal of Emergence). “The United States is currently in its greatest learning period.” Then for both Canada and the U.S., he said the following: “…There must be decisions. Things cannot remain the same. Honored are those who understand that changes which are important are afoot. The biggest changes in all of these places will be the old vs. the new. We’re here to tell you that the Human Being who sits here and who reads these words is the one who can change this. It cannot stand as it is. The potential for the most profound creative changes come in the year of the three.” (2001)

I personally feel that hints were given all along regarding the potentials of our 11:11. I received the facts below from many on the Internet who noticed the 11 synchronicity.

• The date of the attack: 9/11 - 9 + 1 + 1 = 11

• September 11th is the 254th day of the year: 2 + 5 + 4 = 11

• After September 11th there are 111 days left to the end of the year.

• 119 is the area code to Iraq/Iran. 1 + 1 + 9 = 11 (reverse of the 911)

• Twin Towers - standing side by side, looks like the number 11

• The first plane to hit the towers was Flight 11

• State of New York - The 11 State added to the Union

• New York City - 11 Letters

• Afghanistan - 11 Letters

• The Pentagon - 11 Letters

• Ramzi Yousef - 11 Letters (convicted or orchestrating the attack on the

WTC in 1993)

• Flight 11 - 92 on board - 9 + 2 = 11

• Flight 77 - 65 on board - 6 + 5 = 11

Coincidence? We must look at the numbers… always. Kryon has told us from

the beginning that the energy of the end times is the “9” and the “11.” This was given in the first book, (Book one), and the last released book (Book eight). It was about completion and permission. It’s now becoming clear what this all means. Remember this, as well: 666 =18 = 9. Could it be that what we are seeing was also prophesied in veiled ways in scripture? Remember that most scripture is written in metaphors. According to Gregg Braden, even the prophet Isaiah told us that we had the ability to change the future. I believe we just have.

Kryon has now indicated that through Human free choice, we have opted to advance the process of creating unity on the planet… that this tragedy will be seen in history as the turning point for planetary change. In this light, therefore, we see a glimpse of how heretofore unthinkable things might happen—that nations might agree to come together and form coalitions to agree on what “civilization on earth” will permit and not permit—that millions may have just been “torn off the fence” through spiritual rage, and that they will have to decide one way or the other what energy they are going to join or not join.

This is what Kryon spoke of time and time again, and it has been published for

all to read. Now that it begins, and is of our own creation and free will, it will allow for that elusive phrase to come about… the eventual creation of “The New Jerusalem.” Kryon also said these words over and over: “As go the Jews, go Earth.” Perhaps we are beginning to see how this all fits?

What’s next? We still have free choice. Suddenly, however, we must decide to either wallow in the old ways, or clean up our earthly act. We have until 2012, according to Kryon. Whatever our energy then, will be our “stamp of intent” for Humanity.

I have said it before: Someday I will go home. When I do, I wish to have a meeting with almost 6,000 of our family who was lost this week. I want to tell them that what they did made a difference for hundreds of millions on earth, for their future children, and for the Universe. Then I want to hug each one and sing a hero’s song… one with lyrics about the 11:11… the day that Humans decided what they really wanted on earth, and took control to create it.

Given in Love

Lee Carroll

* This information was given to Lee in channel personally. He rephrased it with his personal comments for clarity, and for this E-publication.

US admits must 'do better' on police practices

Yahoo – AFP, Nina Larson, 11 May 2015

Children look at posters calling for an end to police violence in Baltimore, 

Maryland on May 10, 2015 (AFP Photo/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)

Geneva (AFP) - The United States acknowledged before the UN Monday that it has not done enough to uphold civil rights laws, following a string of recent killings of unarmed black men by police.

Speaking before the United Nations Human Rights Council, a US representative stressed the advances his country had made in establishing a range of civil rights laws since segregation ended more than half a century ago.

A South Asian Buddhist leader waves

 a scarf in front of a mural of Freddie 

Gray as he tours the Sandtown 

neighborhood May 7, 2015 in Baltimore,

Maryland (AFP Photo/Alex Wong)

But a number of recent cases of police brutality against African Americans shows "we must rededicate ourselves to ensuring that our civil rights laws live up to their promise," said James Cadogan, a senior counselor in the justice department's civil rights division.

"The tragic deaths of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Michael Brown in Missouri, Eric Garner in New York, Tamir Rice in Ohio, and Walter Scott in South Carolina have... challenged us to do better and to work harder for progress," he said.

The United States was undergoing a so-called Universal Periodic Review of its rights record -- which all 193 UN countries must submit to every four years.

The US delegation, headed by US ambassador to the council Keith Harper and acting US legal advisor Mary McLeod, faced a barrage of questions about police tactics and brutality as well as the disproportionate impact on minorities.

'Broken justice system'

Namibia representative Gladice Pickering urged Washington to "fix the broken justice system that continues to discriminate ... despite recent waves of protest over racial profiling and police killings of unarmed black men."

Demonstrators protesting the killings of 

Michael Brown and Vonderrit Myers are 

confronted by police in riot gear on 

October 12, 2014 in St Louis, Missouri 

(AFP Photo/Scott Olson)

Black men are not the only victims.

On the sidelines of the review, Martinez Sutton gave an emotional account of last month's acquittal of the white Chicago police officer who in 2012 killed his 22-year-old sister, Rekia Boyd, who was black.

"My sister was innocent, so why isn't anybody paying for her death?" he asked reporters.

The questions from the 117 country representatives who took part in Monday's review "showed broad global concern that the US criminal justice system has deep flaws that need to be promptly addressed, particularly with regard to racial disparities," said Alba Morales of Human Rights Watch.

Cadogan said the country was facing the problem, and was intent on holding abusive officers to account.

The half-day review in Geneva came after the US justice department on Friday launched a federal civil rights investigation into whether police in Baltimore have systematically discriminated against residents, following the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody last month.

Demonstrators march through Times

Square during a protest on April 29, 2015

in New York, held in solidarity with 

demonstrators in Baltimore, Maryland, 

demanding justice for an African-American

 man who died in police custody 

(AFP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Six police officers have been charged in connection with Gray's arrest and death. One faces a second-degree murder charge.

"When federal, state, local or tribal officials wilfully use excessive force that violates the US Constitution or federal law, we have authority to prosecute them," Cadogan said, pointing to criminal charges brought against more than 400 law enforcement officials over the past six years.

Sutton, whose sister was killed by a Chicago officer, said he was not convinced.

Authorities "say the guilty should be punished, but I want them to show us, instead of tell us," he said.

Abolish the death penalty

During Monday's review, many diplomats also criticised the continued use of the death penalty in the United States.

Sweden's representative Anna Jakenberg Brinck was among many to demand a "national moratorium on the death penalty aiming at complete abolition."

The United States has seen its execution numbers drop in recent years to 35 in 2014, but still ranks fifth in the world after China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, according to Amnesty International.

A protester shouts slogans against police

 brutality during a rally on April 29, 2015 

at Union Square in New York, held in

 solidarity with demonstrators in Baltimore,

 Maryland (AFP Photo/Eduardo Munoz 

Alvarez)

The issue of US counter-terrorism operations and targeted drone killings was also raised, with Pakistan's representative demanding compensation for all innocent victims of such strikes.

The review also touched on the mass surveillance brought to light by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the widespread detention of illegal immigrants and Washington's record in addressing the legacy of its "war on terror", including its failure to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba.

Denmark's representative called for redress for "all victims of torture or ill treatment, whether still in US custody or not."

McLeod, the US legal advisor, reiterated President Barack Obama's admission that the country had "crossed the line" in allowing past cases of CIA torture, detailed in an explosive Senate report published last December.

But, she stressed that Washington had since taken steps to ensure that the country "never resorts to the use of those harsh interrogation techniques again."

French wrote to thank UN worker for disclosing abuse by troops

Authorities sent letter to whistleblower Anders Kompass, who faces dismissal from UN for leaking report into claims of child abuse by French troops in Africa

The Guardian, Sandra Laville, Friday 1 May 2015

French authorities wrote to Anders Kompass last July, shortly after he disclosed to
 them details of alleged child sex abuse by peacekeeping troops in the Central African
Republic. Photograph: Orlanda Sierra/AFP/Getty Images

French authorities sent a letter of thanks to the UN whistleblower who passed on details of the alleged of abuse of children by its troops in Africa, the Guardian can reveal.

The official, Anders Kompass, has been suspended by the UN and faces dismissal for what the organisation says is a “breach of protocols” in releasing a confidential internal UN document.

Sources close to the case say Kompass, director of field operations for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, disclosed the report to the French because of the UN’s failure to act quickly to stop the abuse identified in their own internal report.

Hinting that the allegations represented just a fraction of what had taken place, a UN spokesman said on Friday “it is possible, it’s horribly possible” that more allegations of sexual abuse of children by French and other soldiers in the Central African Republic could come to light.

As Kompass fights for his job, it emerged on Friday that the French were grateful for the disclosure of the report detailing interviews with children as young as eight or nine who describe sexual abuse at the hands of its peacekeepers.

The French mission was not under the direct control of the UN, but run by the French authorities. The abuse was identified by the UN in an internal report commissioned after reports on the ground that children were being abused.

The letter from the French expressed gratitude for Kompass’s actions. It read: “Dear director, Thank you for the information you have shared with my government concerning Operation Sangaris in the Central African Republic.

“The information is receiving the full attention of the authorities. Given the seriousness of the allegations and the necessity to check the veracity of them, it was immediately decided to launch a judicial inquiry which will determine what subsequent steps will be taken, including possible criminal proceedings. In addition, a command disciplinary investigation has been ordered without delay, under the responsibility of the defence staff.”

The letter, signed by the French permanent representative in Geneva, was sent to Kompass at his UN office on 30 July last year, shortly after he sent the report to the French mission.

It is understood the letter was logged in the OHCHR official correspondence register on 5 August – suggesting his employers were aware of his actions.

Eight months later, however, Kompass was told he was being suspended and was under investigation for breaching strict protocols on the release of confidential information.

The UN has failed to say when or if it officially passed on the report detailing the sexual exploitation of the children to the French for them to take action.

On Friday the OHCHR repeated its assertion that Kompass was not a whistleblower but had “breached strict protocols.”

The UN spokesman said: “This investigation concerns the manner in which confidential information, and especially the identities of child victims and witnesses, as well as of the investigators, was communicated to external actors in possible breach of strict rules that exist to protect victims, witnesses and investigators.”

On Thursday, the French president, François Hollande, promised to show “no mercy” if the allegations against French troops were found to be true.

As the investigation by the French continued, Bea Edwards, of the Government Accountability Project, which provides advocacy for whistleblowers, said the UN was wrong to say Kompass was not a whistleblower.

Under their own protocols, she said, his actions were a whistleblower disclosure to law enforcement about abuse by troops authorised by UN Security Council Resolution 2127 to deploy to the CAR.

“His transmission of criminal allegations to French authorities meets the conditions permitting the external disclosure of wrongdoing,” said Edwards. “These include that the allegations represented violations of international law, as well as an imminent and ongoing danger to the public health and safety and that there was no personal benefit accrued to the whisteblower.”

UBS Whistle-Blower Says Bank Has ‘Global’ Issue With Tax Evaders

Jakarta Globe, Fabio Benedetti-Valentini, Mar 04, 2015

Republican Guards walk in the rain during a ceremony to welcome Quebec
Prime Minister Philippe Couillard during a ceremony in the courtyard of the
 Hotel des Invalides in Paris on March 2, 2015. (AFP Photo/Philippe Wojazer)

The former UBS Group banker whose cooperation with the U.S. helped expose tax evasion by thousands of Americans says the Swiss bank used similar practices elsewhere and he’s eager to help European governments.

“It’s not a U.S. issue, it’s not a French issue, it’s a global issue. UBS is the problem,” Bradley Birkenfeld said in an interview the day after testifying in a French investigation into similar allegations against UBS. “They’ve been doing it in every market: the Greek market, the Spanish market, the Italian market, the Scandinavian market, the German — I can go on and on, you get the picture.”

The French charged the world’s largest manager of money for the rich last year with laundering the proceeds of tax fraud and ordered the Zurich-based bank to pay 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to cover a potential penalty should the criminal probe result in a guilty finding. The judge leading the probe asked Birkenfeld to come to Paris to testify as a witness, according to a U.S. court decision authorizing the trip.

Birkenfeld’s testimony in the U.S. case helped secure a $780 million settlement with the bank in 2009. He went to prison for his role and is still on probation. In the interview with Bloomberg News, he said that during his years at UBS in Switzerland, he often spoke with colleagues who worked with French clients and understands how they operated.

French probe

“A witness who actively lobbied to get invited, needed to receive special permission to travel due to his court-ordered supervisory release, and never worked in the business in question, should have limited credibility,” UBS said in an e- mailed statement.

On the French case, the bank said, “the matter remains in a formal investigation phase, there is nothing more to add at this point.” Previously, the bank said the French probe has become a “highly politicized process” and that it’s “taken significant and broad steps to ensure tax compliance of our clients and will continue to do so.”

The U.S.-born banker flew to Paris last week and met with investigators led by judge Guillaume Daieff on Feb. 27, he said. In an interview the next day at a hotel near the Arc de Triomphe, Birkenfeld recounted his time at UBS in Switzerland, where he worked from 2001 to 2006. He declined to go into specifics about the judges’ questions.

‘Boys’ club’

He was part of a team that catered to 19,000 U.S. wealthy clients with about $20 billion in assets, he said. As a director, Birkenfeld said he “made good money for the bank and my clients” during his years at UBS.

He said that while he focused on North America, he spoke with his colleagues handling Europeans. UBS managed even more assets from Switzerland for French clients than for Americans, Birkenfeld said.

While he said in the Feb. 28 interview that he doesn’t deny he was “part of it,” Birkenfeld said he wants to use his knowledge of Geneva’s private banking “little boys’ club” to foster public awareness and fight financial misdeeds.

Birkenfeld pleaded guilty to conspiracy for his role in the U.S. case and was sentenced to 40 months in prison. After his release, he received a $104 million whistle-blower award from the Internal Revenue Service.

Since UBS handed over account names to the U.S., at least 50,000 U.S. taxpayers have avoided prosecution by disclosing offshore accounts to the IRS, generating more than $7 billion in taxes, interest and penalties.

Birkenfeld said he’s ready to help other authorities as he is with the French, “free of charge.” He is already cooperating with two that he declined to identify.

Birkenfeld turned 50 the day before meeting the judges. He now lives in New Hampshire, and it was his first trip to Europe since 2008.

Bloomberg

Stuart Gulliver in Hong Kong in 2012: leaked files show that the HSBC chief

 executive was a client of the bank’s Swiss subsidiary at the centre of the

scandal. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images

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