aid workers - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Israel says airstrike unintentionally killed aid workers in Gaza, allies demand explanations

PRIME Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel mistakenly killed seven people working for the aid charity World Central Kitchen in a Gaza airstrike, and the U.S. and other allies called for explanations amid widespread condemnation. Israel's military voiced "sincere sorrow" over the incident, which ratcheted up international pressure for steps to ease the disastrous humanitarian situation in Gaza nearly six months into Israel's siege and invasion of the Palestinian enclave. The strike on the World Central Kitchen convoy killed citizens of Australia, Britain and Poland as well as Palestinians and a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. WCK, which…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Islamic State ‘Beatles’ cell member convicted in U.S. of beheading hostages

WORLD

JAN WOLFE A U.S. jury convicted a former British citizen for his role in a notorious Islamic State hostage-taking plot that led to the beheading of American journalists and aid workers. After a six-week trial and four hours of deliberations, a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, found El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, guilty on charges including lethal hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit murder. In convicting Elsheikh, the jury concluded that he was part of an Islamic State terrorist cell, nicknamed "The Beatles" for their British accents, that beheaded American hostages in Iraq and Syria. Some former hostages, released by the "Beatles"…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

New sex abuse claims against aid workers exposed in Congo

NEWS

ROBERT FLUMMERFELT and ANGE KASONGO MORE than 20 Congolese women have accused aid workers of sexual abuse in new claims that include rape and unwanted pregnancies, with United Nations investigators uncovering similar allegations of workers exploiting vulnerable women. The New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation spoke to 22 women in Butembo who said male aid workers responding to an Ebola crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo offered them jobs in exchange for sex. The claims come as donors pressure aid groups to do more to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse while assisting the world's most vulnerable, and follow a joint investigation by…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

EXCLUSIVE-Half aid workers report racism at work in past year – poll

NEWS

SONIA ELKS HALF of aid workers have experienced racism at work in the past year, with staff and activists saying agencies are failing to combat discrimination in their ranks, a global survey by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and aid consultancy Aid Works found. An online survey of 286 aid workers in 63 countries found 143 people had experienced racism at work in the past year, ranging from having contributions overlooked, to pay disparities and overt racist comments, but fewer than half reported it. The findings come as aid agencies face closer scrutiny, with sexual abuse scandals tarnishing a $30 billion…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Inside Story: How we broke the Ebola sexual abuse scandal

HUMAN RIGHTS

PAISLEY DODDS EARLY last year during a trip to the Ebola outbreak zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we were tipped off that aid workers might be sexually abusing and exploiting women. “Oh, they love our ladies,” reporter Robert Flummerfelt was told in March 2019 at a bar in Butembo, one of two hubs for workers trying to contain the virus in Congo’s northeast. “They arrive in military convoys to take the sick for treatment, and they are always taking the women.” Even though the practice seemed well known, we were warned few women would talk. “The victims of…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Congo to investigate ‘jobs-for-sex’ accusations during Ebola outbreak

NEWS

NELLIE PEYTON DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo will investigate accusations of sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers that were uncovered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and The New Humanitarian, the country's health minister has announced. Five U.N. agencies and international NGOs have also launched inquiries after 51 women accused mainly foreign aid workers of demanding sex in exchange for jobs during the 2018-2020 Ebola crisis. "We are sending a team next week to investigate," Congo's health minister, Eteni Longondo, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "The aim is to know the truth and understand exactly what happened, and then we can…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Calls for punishment, aid sector reform after sex abuse scandal in Congo

NEWS

PHILIP KLEINFELD AID organisations have vowed to probe allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by Ebola response workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo after an investigation by The New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation prompted widespread outrage and calls for change. More than 50 women recounted abuse – many of them multiple incidents – by men who said they were aid workers in the 2018-2020 Ebola response, often promising jobs for sex. Five of the seven NGOs and UN agencies implicated have pledged to open inquiries into the allegations, which centred on the eastern town of Beni. Nigel…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Congo ‘jobs-for-sex’ expose prompts calls for greater scrutiny of aid workers

NEWS

NELLIE PEYTON VETTING aid workers more closely and giving women more power is critical to tackle sex abuse in humanitarian crises as exposed in a joint investigation by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and The New Humanitarian, aid experts said on Wednesday. In the expose, 51 women recounted multiple incidents of abuse by mainly foreign aid workers during the 2018-2020 Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, many saying men demanded sex to get a job or ended contracts if they refused. At least 30 women said workers from the World Health Organization (WHO) were involved and women also reported…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Over 50 women accuse aid workers of sex abuse in Congo Ebola crisis

NEWS

ROBERT FLUMMERFELT and NELLIE PEYTON MORE than 50 women have accused Ebola aid workers from the World Health Organization and leading NGOs of sexual exploitation and abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an investigation by The New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation revealed. In interviews, 51 women - many of whose accounts were backed up by aid agency drivers and local NGO workers - recounted multiple incidents of abuse, mainly by men who said they were international workers, during the 2018 to 2020 Ebola crisis. The majority of the women said numerous men had either propositioned them, forced…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Convoy ambush in eastern Congo kills one aid worker

NEWS

ARMED attackers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo killed one aid worker and took two others temporarily hostage after ambushing their convoy on Wednesday, Christian charity World Vision said. The convoy was returning from a mission to deliver food to vulnerable communities in North Kivu province, which has been plagued by instability and militia violence for over two decades. "Two of our staff were missing for over 18 hours but are now safely with the larger team awaiting evac (evacuation). We're thankful for community intervention to secure their release," World Vision's director in Congo Anne-Marie Connor told Reuters on Thursday.…