Bruce Harris

Bruce Harris (born 1955 in Scotland, United Kingdom) is the disgraced former executive director of Casa Alianza, from 1989 to September 2004. He was dismissed from this post after admitting he had paid a young adult male, who had earlier been in the care of Casa Alianza, for sex. Harris had previously presented himself as a "Christian Family" man and as such this act was considered especially shocking both by his constituency of supporters and by those he attacked while alleging a higher moral standpoint.

The Casa Alianza organisation provided children with food, shelter and other services for Central American children as well as claiming to advocate on behalf of them. As its chief Harris had received a number of prizes and honours including the fifty-thousand-dollar Olof Palme prize in 1996 [ [http://www.palmefonden.se/index.php?page=39 Olof Palmes minnesfond ] ] and in 2004 the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, worth USD1.5 million. In 2001, he was made an Officer of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom [ [http://www.oas.org/documents/trafficking/bio_BruceHarris.asp Videoconference on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women, Adolescents and Children ] ] . One of his most notable campaigns was to attempt to end the alleged torture and murder of street children by Guatemalan police and 392 cases alleging these offences were brought to trial [ [http://www.speaktruth.org/defend/profiles/profile_03.asp Welcome to Speak Truth to Power ] ] . He testified regarding children's rights several times before international bodies, in one instance helping to achieve a ruling against Guatemala by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Controversy

Harris was involved in several major disputes due to his antagonistic style and disputes with Central American authorities. In 2000, Costa Rican president Miguel Angel Rodríguez accused him of plotting to damage Costa Rica's reputation in regard to its alleged child sex trade. In 2004, he was tried and acquitted for the serious offence of defaming the character of the spouse of a Guatemalan Supreme Court member. Harris had accused her of participating in a scheme to have poor mothers put their babies up for adoption without asking compensation. According to Harris, the children would then be provided to U.S. families for $20,000. He also made a speech welcoming the theoretical collapse of the Guatemalan state as a "befitting fate" through bankruptcy as a result of litigation by Casa Alianza [ [http://www.marrder.com/htw/aug97/editorial.htm Honduras This Week Opinions & Editorial ] ] .

ex scandal

Bruce Harris was dismissed by Casa Alianza after it was discovered that he had paid a nineteen-year-old man for sex [ [http://www.ticotimes.net/dailyarchive/2005_03/daily_03_04_05.htm#story2 The Tico Times Online Daily Page ] ] . This young man had previously been a resident of Casa Alianza when a child. Bruce Harris acknowledged he had had sex with this young man while trying to trivialise his own behaviour, and there was a general concern that this might have been part of a pattern of sexual abuse of children in his care. The Honduran special prosecutor's office for crimes against children investigated the claim but it eventually dropped the case, unable to ascertain whether Harris had committed a crime. Following the allegation, Harris wrote a letter to the Associated Press saying he had resigned and that he did so to spend more time with his family. However, Casa Alianza stated that they had fired him, and said Harris had admitted wrongdoing.

Rosalía Gil, Costa Rica's minister for children, said, "This is causing a type of shock in the community that works in favour of the children, because Bruce has been characterised by his denunciations of abuse against children." [cite web|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/011/13.22.html|title=Breaking Covenant]

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