UN experts say the Epstein files meet the legal criteria to be declared crimes against humanity
Millions of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggest the existence of a “global criminal network” that committed acts that meet the legal criteria to be considered crimes against humanity, independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said.
Jeffrey Epstein PHOTO: Shutterstock
The experts stated that the crimes described in the documents published by the US Department of Justice were committed against the background of beliefs related to supremacy, racism, corruption and extreme misogyny, writes News.
According to them, the crimes indicate a commercialization and dehumanization of women and girls.
“So serious are the scale, nature, systematic nature and transnational dimension of these atrocities against women and girls that some of them may meet the legal criteria of crimes against humanity”they sent in a statement.
The experts stressed that the allegations contained in the documents require an independent, thorough and impartial investigation and also called for investigations into how it was possible for such crimes to be committed over such a long period of time.
The US 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 documents related to Epstein to be made public.
UN experts also raised concerns about “serious violations of compliance obligations and wrongful anonymization/deletion of information“, which exposed sensitive data about victims. More than 1,200 victims have been identified in the documents released so far.
“The reluctance to fully disclose information or expand investigations has left many survivors feeling retraumatized,” said the experts.
The Justice Department's release of the documents revealed Epstein's ties to numerous influential people in politics, finance, academia and business – both before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges, including solicitation of an underage girl.
He was found dead in his cell in 2019 after being rearrested on federal child sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
