Whistleblower wins battle

A United Nations whistleblower called for independent oversight of the body yesterday as she won a 15-year legal fight after being sacked when she demanded a full investigation into the rape of a Sri Lankan refugee by an aid worker.

Caroline Hunt-matthes, 56, a British investigator, was dismissed from UNHCR, the refugee agency, in 2003 when she raised concerns about how senior officials had obstructed an inquiry into the attack. She challenged the dismissal but the UN resisted her claim and forced her into one of the longest cases in the history of the organisation’s internal justice system.

UNHCR said in an agreed statement yesterday that the length of time the case had taken and the impact on Hunt-matthes’ career and family life were ‘‘a matter of regret’’. Hunt-matthes, who had been involved in investigating the genocide in Rwanda, joined UNHCR as its only trained investigator.

The case in Sri Lanka was her first field mission. The victim, a refugee woman who was working for the agency, had been sacked while the alleged rapist was transferred to a job in a different part of the country.

Hunt-matthes sent reports to Geneva and New York voicing her concerns that the alleged perpetrator was being protected by UNHCR officials.

Instead of a new inquiry, however, she came under scrutiny herself and was then sacked by email while on medical leave after a car accident while she was working in Indonesia. ‘‘When I think back, I still reel from the shock of opening that email,’’ she said.

She found work in another UN unit but that was later abolished and her employment was terminated again.

Hunt-matthes took a case against UNHCR, alleging that her treatment was retaliatory and vindictive.

The case came before the UN disciplinary tribunal, the organisation’s international internal court, in 2013.

Despite being refused funding for legal representation, Huntmatthes was supported by a colleague and won.

The tribunal found that her dismissal amounted to retaliation.

It also ruled that the UN ethics office had failed to protect her when she had done her duty by reporting suspected misconduct.

However, UNHCR appealed on a technicality and the judgment was overturned in 2014.

At the time of that decision to appeal, the high commissioner for refugees was Antonio Guterres, who is now UN secretary-general.

‘‘I wanted to get on with my life. Instead it was ordered that the case was re-run from scratch. It impacted on my health,’’ Huntmatthes said.

Four years later the case came back to the tribunal for trial but at the start of proceedings the two sides reached ‘‘a mutually satisfactory settlement’’.

A joint statement said: ‘‘It is a matter of regret that these issues and the lengthy delays have impacted upon Ms Hunt-matthes’ employment and personal life.’’

Hunt-matthes is barred from discussing the terms of the settlement but said: ‘‘The UN justice system needs to be placed entirely outside the purview of the UN, which cannot be at the same time party and judge.’’ –

‘‘The UN justice system needs to be placed entirely outside the purview of the UN, which cannot be at the same time party and judge.’’ Caroline Hunt-matthes