Millions of files related to the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggest the existence of a “global criminal enterprise” that carried out acts meeting the legal threshold of crimes against humanity, a panel of independent experts appointed by the United Nations human rights council has said.
The experts said crimes outlined in documents released by the US justice department were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption and extreme misogyny. The crimes, they said, showed a commodification and dehumanisation of women and girls.
“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,” they said in a statement.
The experts said the allegations contained in the files require an independent, thorough and impartial investigation, and said inquiries should also be launched into how it was possible for such crimes to be committed for so long.
The US justice department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A law, approved by Congress with broad bipartisan support in November, requires all Epstein-related files to be made public.
The UN experts also raised concerns about “serious compliance failures and botched redactions” that exposed sensitive victim information. More than 1,200 victims were identified in the documents that have been released so far.
“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 release of the documents by the justice department has revealed Epstein’s ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business – both before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges, including soliciting an underage girl.
He was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 after being arrested again on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. His death was ruled a suicide.
Snowflakes_Take on February 18th, 2026 at 11:10 UTC »
“The crimes, they said, showed a commodification and dehumanization of women and girls. "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. The experts said the allegations contained in the files require an independent, thorough and impartial investigation, and said inquiries should also be launched into how it was possible for such crimes to be committed for so long. The U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”
Reuters
ShreddedJerky on February 18th, 2026 at 08:04 UTC »
Crimes against humanity are certain crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians.Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as foreign nationals.
The first prosecution for crimes against humanity took place during the Nuremberg trials and subsequent Nuremberg trials against defeated leaders of Nazi Germany and collaborators.
According to the Rome Statute, there are eleven types of crimes that can be charged as a crime against humanity when "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population": "murder; extermination; enslavement; deportation or forcible transfer of population; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law; torture; rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity...; enforced disappearance...; the crime of apartheid; other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health."
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimes_against_humanityImaginary-Ad-7919 on February 18th, 2026 at 08:04 UTC »
This isn’t the first time UN experts have raised concerns about this case, but the terminology here is much more severe than before.
It suggests they believe the scale or nature of the alleged abuses goes beyond individual misconduct.