CHARITY OUTRAGE
Prince Harry charity ‘admits human rights abuses after claims rangers RAPED & beat locals to keep them off land’
The bombshell admission comes from one of Africa's largest conservation charities
A MAJOR charity linked to Prince Harry has admitted that its park rangers committed human rights abuses.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, served as the president of conservation charity African Parks from 2017 to 2023, before stepping down and becoming a board member.
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The admission comes after an investigation by the Mail on Sunday in January alleged that guards working for the organisation in the Republic of Congo committed human rights abuses.
The report alleged that the non-profit subjected indigenous people to a range of abuses, including rape and torture.
The charity has now admitted that human rights abuses did take place.
The admission follows a review by Omnia Strategy, a London-based law firm that had been investigating the alleged abuse since December 2023.
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They did not publish the full findings or recommendations - and instead sent them straight to African Parks.
There is no suggestion that any of the alleged abuses took place when Harry was president of the organisation or on its board.
It also did not make any suggestion that Prince Harry was aware of any of the alleged abuses.
The non-profit said that they had reviewed Omnia’s advice and "endorsed the management plan and timeframes to implement the recommendations".
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They then said in a bombshell admission: "African Parks acknowledges that, in some incidents, human rights abuses have occurred."
African Parks added that they "deeply regret the pain and suffering that these [abuses] have caused to the victims".
The organisation added that Omnia's landmark review "highlighted several failures of our systems", in particular during the early years of management of a national park called Odzala.
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Prince Harry has been closely involved in understanding the findings and implementing any necessary recommendations, according to The Telegraph.
He was made a member of the Board of Directors in 2023 when he ended his tenure as president of the charity.
African Parks is one of Africa's largest conservation charities.
Headquartered in Johannesburg, it manages 23 protected areas in 13 African countries.
Harry is no longer listed as a board member on the charity's website.
The admission comes after the Duke of Sussex was caught up in a blistering row with the boss of his charity Sentebale after he sensationally quit the trust.
The Duke of Sussex had set the African charity up in 2006 in memory of his mum, Princess Diana, along with his pal Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
But the pair then revealed they have sided with their charity's furious trustees after they unanimously resigned following a row with board chair Sophie Chandauka.
The charity's boss then released an explosive statement in which she slammed "unthinkable" infighting in the organisation as well as made claims that there had been a "cover-up".
Chandauka, a Zimbabwe-born lawyer, was selected to be chair of the trustees last year.
However, it is understood the trustees strongly opposed this move and had wanted her to step down - a move which has seen her sue.
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The bitter feud appeared to be triggered by the move to transfer the charity's fundraising operation to Africa, which caused several key figures to quit the organisation.
Harry's charity rows
It is not the first time Harry has been involved in a charity row in recent months.
The Duke stepped down from Sentebale alongside fellow co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
The pair started the charity in 2006 to help young people with HIV in Lesotho and Botswana.
The Duke of Sussex and Prince Seeiso announced they were stepping down from the charity on March 25 in support of trustees who left after a dispute with chairwoman Dr Sophie Chandauka.
Harry found himself at the centre of a row in March with Chandauka, the boss of his African charity Sentebale.
The two princes cited the chair's "untenable" leadership, to which Chaundauka released a scathing response, accusing the board of harassment, bullying, and misogynoir.
In response, Chandauka appeared to suggest Harry and Seeiso were using the charity as a "vanity project", saying she would not be "intimidated" by them.
The board chair also slammed "people in this world who behave as though they are above the law and mistreat people...then play the victim card and use the very press they disdain".
She told The Sun she had acted with integrity as a "proud African" and that she "stand[s] for those other women who do not have the ways and means".
It was also claimed by Chief Khoabane Theko, the chief whip of Lesotho’s Senate, that Harry lost interest in the organisation after marrying Meghan Markle in 2018 and subsequently moving to the US two years later.
But it was said his lack of love for the organisation, fuelled by his move to the US, "killed the spirit" of the charity.
Chief Theko said Harry began to visit Lesotho less, following his marriage, and at one point took a six year gap.
He said he was "perturbed" the Duke and Duchess would take holidays in Africa but not visit Lesotho.
Harry had visited more frequently in the past, making four trips between June 2010 and the end of 2015, but his journey there in October 2024 was the first in six years.
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