My previous post was about sexual exploitation in the aid industry. If you didn’t read it, I very briefly related the long history of scandals of sexual exploitation and abuse of power in the industry, leaving many cases out in an attempt to limit the word count. I painted a very dire picture of the state of things and I questioned the idea of ICT as a tool to fight the wide spread occurrence of sexual abuse in the aid industry. The conclusion Continue reading
UN Peacekeepers Photo: UN
On September 29th this year the news broke that more than 50 women accused aid workers for sexual abuse in the Congo Ebola crisis response efforts during 2018-2020. It was the nonprofit news organization The New Humanitarian that after a yearlong investigation into the matter released their findings. The claims that were put forward accused unnamed male workers from mainly the WHO, but also other leading NGOs and UN agencies as well as the Congolese health ministry, for demanding sex in change for employment. Women shared stories of being pressured to have sexual relations with men to be considered for employment and of contracts being terminated when refusing to engage with the men. The practice was so widely spread that it became known as a “passport to employment” ¹.
