
Giving Compass' Take:
- Sarah El Gharib writes about cases of sexual assault during an Ebola outbreak by WHO health workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- How can we be sure sexual assault does not go unaddressed or unmonitored? What can you do to make sure you are supporting organizations who are ethically providing care and aid during coronavirus?
- Learn more about how you can help address sexual assault in the aid community.
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More than 50 women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) say that they were sexually abused by humanitarian health workers during an Ebola outbreak, according to a new report.
The report was released on Tuesday by non-governmental organization the New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. It found that the alleged perpetrators are, for the most part, employees of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as workers from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), World Vision, Oxfam, Alima, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The majority of the 51 women interviewed said that they had been coerced into sex in exchange for job-related favors during this period. Hired on a short-term contract basis as cooks, cleaners, and social workers, some of them were earning twice as much as the national average, but lived under the threat of having their employment contracts terminated if they refused to comply with the demands of their abusers.
Read the full article about sexual assault during an Ebola outbreak by Sarah El Gharib at Global Citizen.