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UN suspends ties after CAR charity head identified as Belgian paedophile

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Published on: June 16, 2023

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The United Nations (UN) has suspended work with Central African Republic (CAR) branch of Caritas after it emerged that the director of the Catholic charity there was a convicted pedophile.

The UN’s humanitarian agency said there were “serious allegations of abuse against minors” in CAR by the charity’s former director, Belgian priest Father Luk Delft.

UN’s Humanitarian agency deputy spokesperson, Jens Laerke, spoke to CNN on Friday and said that work with the aid organisation in the CAR was on hold while investigations continued.

“The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) is aware of the serious allegations of abuse against minors by the former Caritas Director in CAR,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

Caritas says he has been removed from his post and is no longer in the CAR.

Caritas is saddened and outraged by the child abuse reported by @CNN on Luk Delft, a Belgian priest who was a previous national director of Caritas Central African Republic. We express our compassion and solidarity with the children and their families. https://t.co/spt3raBTJc

— Caritas (@iamCARITAS) November 21, 2019