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Sexual abuse ‘normalised’ in UK schools as boys pester girls for ‘nudes’

Sexual abuse ‘normalised’ in UK schools as boys pester girls for ‘nudes’

EMMA BATHA SEXUAL harassment and online sexual abuse has become "normalised" in English schools, inspectors have said, with some girls contacted by up to 11 boys a night asking for nude or semi-nude images. Nine in 10 schoolgirls interviewed by education inspectors said sexist name-calling and being sent explicit pictures or videos happened "a lot" or "sometimes". Pressure to send nude pictures was also far more prevalent than adults realised, education watchdog Ofsted said in a report as it called for urgent action to tackle the problem. The chief inspector of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), which inspects…
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German archbishop offers to resign over Church’s sexual abuse ‘catastrophe’

German archbishop offers to resign over Church’s sexual abuse ‘catastrophe’

THOMAS ESCRITT and PHILIP PULLELLA ONE of Roman Catholicism's most influential liberal figures, Germany's Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has offered to resign as archbishop of Munich, saying he had to share responsibility for the "catastrophe" of sexual abuse by clerics over past decades. His offer, which Pope Francis has yet to accept, follows an uproar among the German faithful over abuse. Last week, the pope sent two senior foreign bishops to investigate the Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany's largest, over its handling of abuse cases. "I have to share responsibility for the catastrophe of sexual abuse by officials of the Church over…
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Findings on DRC sexual abuse probe imminent

Findings on DRC sexual abuse probe imminent

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY THE World Health Organization, facing pressure from donors, said that an independent investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo against WHO aid workers should issue findings by the end of August. The Thomson Reuters Foundation reported last October that more than 50 women had accused aid workers from the WHO and leading charities of sexual exploitation and abuses during the Ebola outbreak. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told its annual ministerial session on Friday that any abusive behaviour was "totally incompatible with WHO's mission" and he was aware that some states were frustrated…
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Rocked by new sex claims, W.H.O appeals for information

Rocked by new sex claims, W.H.O appeals for information

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…
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New sex abuse claims against aid workers exposed in Congo

New sex abuse claims against aid workers exposed in Congo

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…
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What happens to sexual abuse survivors after the headlines fade?

What happens to sexual abuse survivors after the headlines fade?

TITILOPE AJAYI It’s a scourge that never seems to stay out of the headlines for long: UN peacekeepers and aid workers accused of sexually abusing and exploiting women and children. Despite so-called “zero tolerance” policies and pledges from the UN and aid organisations to root out perpetrators, harrowing accounts from survivors keep surfacing, as we discovered in our recent investigation about how 50 women described being lured into sex-for-work schemes by aid workers during the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.     But what happens to survivors after the headlines fade?  For many, justice has remained elusive, with cases either dismissed…
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Haiti’s football boss banned for life by FIFA for sexual abuse

Haiti’s football boss banned for life by FIFA for sexual abuse

FIFA has banned Haiti's football federation president Yves Jean-Bart for life after finding him guilty of sexually harassing and abusing multiple female players, including minors, global soccer's governing body has announced. FIFA provisionally suspended Jean-Bart in May while it investigated multiple allegations against him by victims, their friends and family members detailing how he coerced girls into sex by threatening they would lose their places in national team programmes. Jean-Bart has denied the allegations. "The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee has found Yves Jean-Bart... guilty of having abused his position and sexually harassed and abused various female players,…
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One year on, Tunisia’s #MeToo movement grapples with race

One year on, Tunisia’s #MeToo movement grapples with race

BAN BARKAWI FEMINIST activist Khawla Ksiksi did not expect a backlash from supporters of her country's #MeToo movement when she used the campaign to highlight the double discrimination faced by Black women in Tunisia. Inspired by the global movement to expose sexual abuse and harassment, Tunisian women's campaigners launched their own version #EnaZeda in 2019, sparking street protests and a long-overdue debate about sexual violence and gender inequality.  But 28-year-old Ksiksi, who is Black, said that while EnaZeda had been instrumental in helping women speak up against sexual abuse, awareness about racism in the North African country was still in…
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Why the UN must set up an independent body to tackle sexual abuse

Why the UN must set up an independent body to tackle sexual abuse

ANDERS KOMPASS SIX years ago, I became a UN whistleblower, intervening to stop the sexual abuse of children by soldiers in Central African Republic. The revelation led to an independent investigation into how the UN had handled the affair and, in 2015, to a damning report that identified severe structural and systemic weaknesses within the UN system. At the end of it, in 2016, I resigned from the United Nations, making a final call for structural change in the ethical standards of the organisation. Since then, I have looked from a distance as Sweden’s ambassador in Central America, still hoping…
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Calls for punishment, aid sector reform after sex abuse scandal in Congo

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

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…
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