UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has sounded the alarm over newly released files linked to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, warning that the scale and pattern 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 point to a deeply entrenched 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 US Department of Justice were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption and extreme misogyny.
The crimes, they said, showed a commodification and dehumanization of women and girls.
“The scale, nature, systematic nature and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls are so serious that several of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold for crimes against humanity,” the experts said in a statement.
Experts said the allegations contained 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, passed by Congress with broad bipartisan support in November, requires that all records related to Epstein be made public.
UN experts expressed concern about “serious compliance failures and botched redactions” that exposed confidential victim information. In the documents published so far, more than 1,200 victims have been identified.
“The reluctance to reveal all information or expand investigations has left many survivors feeling retraumatized and subjected to what they describe as ‘institutional illusion,'” the experts said.
The Justice Department’s release of documents has revealed Epstein’s ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business, both before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges, including soliciting services from an underage girl.
He was found hanging in his cell in 2019 after being arrested again on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. His death was considered a suicide.
