More than 80 alleged cases of sexual violence during the World Health Organization helped the Democratic Republic of the Congo cope with the Ebola epidemic. Twenty-one of these employees have now been charged. This was established by an independent commission, Bulgaria ON AIR reports.
An investigation by the Associated Press found that WHO senior management was informed of the violations in 2019, but did not stop these cases, even promoted one of the employees involved.
“This is the biggest revelation of sexual violence committed during a UN initiative,” Independent quoted Paul Donovan, who heads the Campaign to End Sexual Exploitation.
Malik Coulibaly, a member of the committee, said nine cases of rape had been identified. The women interviewed said that the criminals did not use protective equipment, and among them were pregnant women. Some victims said the rapists forced them to have an abortion.
The youngest victim was 13 years old. She said that in April 2019, the WHO driver stopped on the side of the road to Mangin, where she was selling phone cards, and offered to drive her to his house. Instead, he took her to a hotel, where he raped her.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adan Gebrejesus called the report a “painful” reading. He added that four people were fired and two were sent on unpaid leave.
The commission’s report calls for the largest-scale sexual violence involving a UN agency in recent years.