Liberia: SOS Children’s Villages recognizes “a case of sexual assault” – 20 Minutes

The international NGO SOS Children’s Villages recognized on Friday “a case of sexual assault” involving its “management team” in Liberia after its director for this country was implicated in the alleged rape of a teenager welcomed by association. “SOS Children’s Villages confirms that a case of sexual assault has taken place in its program in Liberia involving its management team”, writes the organization, which “deeply regrets not having been able to protect the victim.” The NGO, which helps orphans and children in need, claims to have notified the police immediately when it discovered the facts, in November 2021, after the victim “found his biological family “. Internal investigations According to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the police investigation concerns an alleged “rape” committed by the director of the association in this country on a 16-year-old girl. The facts allegedly occurred while the victim was being cared for by the NGO in its reception center near Buchanan, in the center of the country. The alleged attacker, Augustine Alieu, is being held by police in Liberia, the ministry said on its Facebook account. against a teenager who is officially 16 years old,” Mr. Alieu’s lawyer, Lamii Kpargor, told AFP. Without giving the identity of the alleged aggressor, SOS Children’s Villages indicates that it “was suspended in March 2022 and that the regional office of (the NGO) took control of the operations” of the association. in Liberia. “We are determined to hold those responsible for this sexual assault accountable, regardless of their position” in the hierarchy, she continued, adding that three other employees had been suspended for their alleged involvement. In 2021, SOS Children’s Villages, whose international headquarters are in Vienna, announced that it was investigating cases of violence, in particular sexual violence, and fraud committed from the 1990s in around twenty of its structures in Africa and Asia.