A United Nations watchdog has been selected to lead an external probe into allegations of sexual misconduct against the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, The Associated Press learned Tuesday.
The move will likely generate conflict of interest concerns owing to the prosecutor’s wife’s past work for the oversight body.
Chief prosecutor Karim Khan provided updates on the court’s politically sensitive investigations into war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, Gaza and Venezuela among other conflict areas during the institution’s annual meeting this week in The Hague, Netherlands.
But hanging over the gathering of the ICC’s 124 member states are allegations against Khan himself.
An AP investigation in October found that at the same time the ICC was readying a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Khan was facing internal accusations that he tried to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship and groped her against her will over a period of several months.
At this week’s meeting of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, which oversees the ICC, Päivi Kaukoranta, a Finnish diplomat currently heading the ICC’s oversight body, told delegates that she has settled on the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services, two diplomats told the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.
Two respected human rights groups last month already expressed concern about the possible selection of the UN because Khan’s wife, a prominent human rights attorney, worked at the agency in Kenya in 2019 and 2020 investigating sexual harassment.
The International Federation for Human Rights and Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, in a joint statement, said Khan should be suspended while the probe is being carried out and called for “thoroughly vetting the chosen investigative body, firm, or institution to ensure it is free from conflicts of interest and possesses demonstrated expertise.”
What they described as Khan’s “close relationship” with the UN agency deserved added scrutiny, the two groups said.
“We strongly recommend ensuring that these concerns are openly and transparently addressed before assigning the mandate to the OIOS,” the two organizations said.
