KATHMANDU: A former UN official has been jailed for sexually abusing children in Nepal, officials said on Tuesday, following a trial underscoring the country’s growing appeal for foreign paedophiles.

Peter John Dalglish, 62, from Canada, a former high-profile humanitarian worker, was sentenced on Monday to terms of nine and seven years in two cases after being convicted last month.

Thakur Trital, a district court official, said that Dalglish had been sentenced for nine years for abusing a 12-year-old boy and seven years jail for molesting another 14-year-old.

Dalglish was arrested in April last year in Kavrepalanchowk district, near Kathmandu, by Nepal’s Central Bureau of Investigation. The two boys were at the house where police detained Dalglish, investigators said.

Dalglish denied the charges, and his lawyer could not be reached for comment.

The aid worker, who in 2016 was awarded the Order of Canada — the country’s second-highest civilian honour — made his name as a humanitarian worker advocating for street children, child labourers and those affected by war.

He co-founded Street Kids International in the 1980s which merged with Save the Children.

In the last decade, Dalglish held key positions in UN agencies, including a chief for UN Habitat in Afghanistan in 2015.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2019