Epstein files: UN experts say 'atrocities against women and girls' point to crimes against humanity

Millions of records connected to convicted sex offenderJeffrey Epstein indicate what United Nations-appointed independent experts describe as a “global criminal enterprise” that "may amount to crimes against humanity," according to a statement released by specialists mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The panel said that material disclosed through files published by the United States Department of Justice pointed to offences carried out within an environment shaped by supremacist attitudes, racism, corruption and deep-rooted misogyny. The experts said that the documented actions reflected patterns in which women and girls were treated as commodities and stripped of dignity.

“So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” the experts said in a statement.

They added that the claims contained in the material require a separate and unbiased inquiry conducted thoroughly and independently. The experts also said questions must be examined about how such conduct continued for years without being stopped.

Officials from the US justice department did not provide an immediate response when approached for comment.

A measure adopted by the US Congress in November with backing from lawmakers across party lines requires the disclosure of all files linked to Epstein.

The UN panel further expressed alarm over what it described as lapses in compliance and redaction procedures that resulted in sensitive information about victims being exposed. According to the experts, the documents released to date have identified more than 1,200 victims.

“The reluctance to fully disclose information or broaden investigations, has left many survivors feeling retraumatised and subjected to what they describe as ‘institutional gaslighting’,” the experts said.

The justice department’s document release also brought renewed attention to Epstein’s connections with prominent figures in politics, finance, academia and business, both before and after he entered a guilty plea in 2008 on prostitution-related charges that included soliciting a minor.

Epstein was later found dead in his prison cell in 2019 after he had been detained again on federal allegations of trafficking minors for sexual exploitation. Authorities ruled his death a suicide.