"The UN has been accused of obstructing a police investigation in India following claims of sexual assault against one of its senior officials.
Prashanti Tiwari, who says she was sexually harassed and groped while working for an organisation contracted by the UN population fund, UNFPA, said the agency had tried to block a criminal investigation by claiming immunity for its staff, including the alleged perpetrator.
Tiwari alleges she was assaulted by Diego Palacios, the division's representative for India. The 30-year-old reported the allegations to the police. Among them were claims that Palacios groped her while they were in a lift together, and asked for sexual favours in return for a work contract...
The legal adviser for campaign group Code Blue, Sharanya Kanikkannan, said: 'The things she alleges are illegal under criminal law in India and she wants to be heard in a court in her country. But the UN has inserted itself into a criminal process, commencing and concluding its own investigation in order to stall official police enquiries.'
Tiwari wrote to India's ministry of external affairs in February, petitioning the government to lift Palacios's immunities.
Two weeks later, in an apparent response to a request for information, the UNFPA wrote to the ministry saying Palacios and two other UNFPA employees were 'immune from legal process in respect ... of acts performed by them in their official capacity, unless and until the secretary general of the United Nations has decided to waive their immunity'..."