Former Top UN Children’s Official Jailed For Raping Children
Peter John Dalglish, a former senior United Nations official and co-founder of one of the world’s largest children’s charities, has been jailed after being found guilty of raping young boys in Nepal.
During the arrest, two young children, ages 12 and 14, were rescued from Dalglish’s custody.
Dalglish, 62, described as a “high-profile humanitarian worker from Canada”, was sentenced on Monday to two separate terms of nine years and seven years after being convicted of the horrific crimes last month.
Dalglish was awarded the Order of Canada by the Trudeau government in 2016 for his work with children, after making his name advocating for the most vulnerable — street children, child laborers and those affected by war.
He founded Street Kids International which later became the internationally renowned Save The Children charity after a merger. He has been traveling the world working with disadvantaged children for the last two decades.
However the high-profile and decorated former UN official’s jet-set lifestyle has come to an abrupt end.
Thakur Trital, a district court official, told Agence France-Presse that the former United Nations senior official had been sentenced to nine years for abusing a 12-year-old boy and seven years for molesting a 14-year-old.
“The judge is yet to decide whether he should serve a total 16 years in jail or be released after nine years. In most cases of a similar nature, sentences get overlapped but it is upon the judge to decide,” Trital said.
Dalglish has also been told to pay compensation of 500,000 Nepalese rupees (£3,600) to each of his victims.
DIG Pushkar Karki, director of the CIB, told MyRepublica of Nepal that Dalglish had been promising to help educate disadvantaged children and provide charity and job opportunities for their families:
“Our preliminary investigation has found that he has been targeting children from poor financial backgrounds and sexually abusing them.
By promising the family members that he would educate their children, take them abroad and also provide them jobs after they finish their education, he had been sexually abusing children.
Given his age and his high profile in the humanitarian sector, he would easily win the trust of the family members and later abuse their children.”
But it gets even worse.
Karki also said that Dalglish was well known for these types of crimes in other countries, despite the fact that he has never been prosecuted. International security services and law enforcement have been turning a blind eye to the UN’s top children’s charity advisor while he abused children around the world.
“Not just that, he might have been involved in pedophilia in other countries as well where he served as UN official in the past,” Karki said.“He had arrived in Nepal three months ago. After we got information about his sexual misconduct from security agencies in other countries, we had been closely following him and managed to arrest him.”
As Steemian V4vapid pointed out in his research, the organizations that Danglish worked for have been quick to distance themselves from him. In addition, the social media pages associated with Danglish have all been taken down.
UN spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement that Dalglish is no longer affiliated with any UN programs. “We stand strongly against any sexual abuse. Any allegations need to be thoroughly investigated,” Dujarric said.
In 2016, Dalglish was named a member of the Order of Canada for “his efforts to alleviate child poverty worldwide, notably by establishing and leading Street Kids International.”
The Order has now said that now Dalglish is convicted of a crime, he will have his title removed.
Sadly, this type of case is all too familiar, as it is common for child predators to gravitate towards positions where they will be seen as guardians or saviors. Wealthy donors to children’s charities are notorious for preying on children and using their prestige to intimidate their victims.
For example, predators such as Jimmy Saville and Jerry Sandusky managed to get away with their crimes for decades by using this strategy.
Baxter Dmitry
Email: [email protected]
Follow: @baxter_dmitry