DRC: WHO Promises To Launch Investigation Into Sex Abuse By Aid Workers

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday promised to launch an investigation into claims of alleged sexual exploitation and abuse in the context of the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), reported Africa News.

The health agency issued the strongly-worded statement in response to allegations made during a months-long investigation by various news organizations. The investigation report charges that men who identified themselves as being with WHO, had been accused of sexual abuse by some 30 women.

Notably, more than 50 women have accused aid workers from the WHO and leading NGOs of sexual exploitation and abuse including offering sex in exchange for a job.

 The women also named some other organizations working in the DRC including UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Oxfam, World Vision, UN migration agency IOM, medical charity ALIMA and DRC’s health ministry.

“The betrayal of people in the communities we serve is reprehensible. We do not tolerate such behaviour in any of our staff, contractors or partners,” the WHO said in a statement on Tuesday. “Anyone identified as being involved will be held to account and face serious consequences, including immediate dismissal.”

The WHO leadership and staff said they were outraged by the reports.

 “The actions allegedly perpetrated by individuals identifying themselves as working for WHO are unacceptable and will be robustly investigated,” the statement read.

DRC declared an Ebola outbreak in early June 2020 making it the country’s eleventh in just over 40 years. The previous outbreak led to over 2,280 deaths and 3,470 cases between August 2018 and June 2020. There has been a new outbreak in western DRC since the end of the Ebola mission.

The UN Children’s Fund said on Wednesday that its team on the ground was conducting a “thorough assessment of the facts and will be joined by additional colleagues to seek further detailed information about what has happened.”

The organization has called out all DRC victims to come forward, asking anyone with knowledge of any UNICEF involvement in sexual abuse or exploitation, to report it.