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| - An international charity said Thursday that it is investigating alleged abuse of children under its care or fund mismanagement in Africa and Asia, pledging an "uncompromising" probe. SOS Children's Villages International supports 1.2 million mostly children through more than 550 centres and other programmes around the world, helping orphans and others in need. It has found "cases of serious child protection violations and mismanagement," the head of the organisation, Elisabeth Hauser, said in a statement. A spokeswoman for the group told AFP that allegations of child mistreatment, including sexual abuse, or fund mismanagement have cropped up in about 20 of the 137 countries where the charity operates. More than 40,000 people work for the organisation founded more than 70 years ago in Austria. The probe is also looking into alleged financial mismanagement. The spokeswoman said the organisation could not say how many children have been affected because the probe was still ongoing. "There are also allegations that executives from SOS Children's Villages International were aware of some of the incidents and that the investigation and prosecution was suppressed," Hauser said. The cases -- some dating back to the 1990s -- came to light through an investigation commissioned by the charity last November following an initial probe into abuse allegations launched three years ago. Hauser said in one case a child whose performance in school had dropped had been locked up and not allowed to visit its own parents. As an example of fund mismanagement, Hauser pointed to alleged cases of nepotism in the awarding of construction contracts. An independent commission led by an Austrian politician, known for her victim protection work, has been set up to probe the cases further and suggest structural changes to the group. A report is expected by the second half of 2022, according to SOS Children's Villages. "We are called upon to act decisively and without compromises," Hauser said. "Our structure obviously has weaknesses. As it is now clear, our standards are not implemented in all countries with the same conscientiousness and transparency." She said victims would be compensated from a special fund totalling "millions of euros" (dollars). In 2012, SOS Children's Village tasked an Austrian historian to document its work and educational practices from the 1950s to the 1990s in Austria, including shedding light on past cases of violence against children. A damning book titled "Committed to Silence: Experiences with SOS Children's Villages" was published two years later. jza/gd
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