UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has sounded the alarm over recently released files linked to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, warning that the scale and types of abuse described in the documents could amount to crimes against humanity.
Independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council said the allegations pointed to a deep-rooted transnational network that systematically exploited women and girls, and called for a full and impartial investigation.
Experts said the crimes described in documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption and extreme misogyny.
These crimes, according to them, demonstrate the commodification and dehumanization of women and girls.
“The scale, nature, systematic nature and transnational scope of these atrocities against women and girls are so serious that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold for crimes against humanity,” the experts said in a statement.
Experts said the allegations in the files require an independent, thorough and impartial investigation, and said investigations should also be launched into how such crimes could have been committed for so long.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A law, approved by Congress with broad bipartisan support in November, requires all records related to Epstein to be made public.
U.N. experts raised concerns about “serious compliance lapses and botched redactions” that exposed sensitive information about victims. More than 1,200 victims have been identified in documents released so far.
“The reluctance to fully disclose information or expand investigations has left many survivors feeling retraumatized and subject to what they describe as ‘institutional gaslighting,’” the experts said.
The Justice Department’s release of documents revealed Epstein’s ties to numerous figures in politics, finance, academia and business — before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges, including solicitation of a minor.
He was found hanging in his prison cell in 2019 after being rearrested for sex trafficking of minors. His death was ruled a suicide.
