SONIA ELKS
FACING scrutiny over new claims of sexual abuse by its workers, the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged anyone with information to come forward so that action can be taken.
Investigations by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and The New Humanitarian found that more than 70 Congolese women said they were coerced into trading sex for jobs by men who said they worked for aid groups during a 2018 to 2020 Ebola outbreak.
More than 40 of the women in the Democratic Republic of Congo accused men who said they worked for the WHO of abuse, including one claim of rape, ramping up pressure on the United Nations and others to crack down on exploitation in aid.
“We are very shocked and appalled by the allegations, none more than the Director General himself,” WHO spokeswoman Marcia Poole told reporters in response to a question about the recent accusations.
“We encourage anyone who has any information to come forward and contact the community so this work can continue … The crucial thing as well is to look at the systemic changes that we need to make so that it doesn’t happen again.”
The aid sector has faced mounting calls to tackle exploitation since it emerged that Oxfam staff used sex workers in Haiti during a 2010 mission – a scandal that snowballed into widespread reports of harassment and abuse in the sector.
Several aid workers have already been dismissed in the wake of September’s initial exposé by The New Humanitarian and Thomson Reuters Foundation, which involved 51 women, and several organisations named in the story have launched investigations.
The WHO set up an independent commission in October to look into the abuse claims and it will “make recommendations in terms of supporting the survivors, in terms of taking action against those who may be found guilty”, Poole said on Wednesday.
“We’re making sure staff is very aware of the consequences,” she said, adding that the WHO had also set up a working group for victims, which is scrutinising the agency’s policies for emergency operations.
