news24Tue, 28 Sep 2021 00:00 UTC
© Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty ImagesDr. Matshidiso Moeti.
The World Health Organization's regional director for Africa said on Tuesday that the agency was "heartbroken" by the findings of an independent commission on sex abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"We in the WHO are indeed humbled, horrified and heartbroken by the findings of this inquiry," Matshidiso Moeti said at a news briefing.WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the commission's report made for "harrowing reading".
The commission found that some 21 of 83 alleged perpetrators were employed by the WHO, and that the abuses, which included nine allegations of rape, were committed by both national and international staff.Alleged victims "were not provided with the necessary support and assistance required for such degrading experiences", the report said.In an investigation published last year by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and The New Humanitarian, more than 50 women accused aid workers from the WHO and leading charities of demanding sex in exchange for jobs during the 2018-2020 Ebola crisis.
In June last year Congo's government announced the end of the two-year outbreak that killed more than 2 200 people - the second-largest Ebola outbreak since the virus was identified in 1976.
Comment: UPDATE 28/09/21: Sky News reported that the accused were Congolese and foreigners and that these allegations may be the "tip of the iceberg".
Both foreigners and Congolese nationals were among the 83 alleged perpetrators identified.
The majority were Congolese staff hired on a temporary basis who took advantage of their apparent authority to obtain sexual favours, the report said.
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AP has since obtained recordings of meetings during which WHO emergencies chief Dr Michael Ryan acknowledged that the DRC sex abuse allegations were likely to be "the tip of an iceberg" and were part of a problem that "does reflect a culture as well".
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A member of the Congolese Union of Media Women (UCOFEM), Julie Londo, applauded WHO for punishing staff members involved in the abuse allegations but said the agency needed to go further.
She said: "WHO must also think about reparation for the women who were traumatised by the rapes and the dozens of children who were born with unwanted pregnancies as a result of the rapes.
"There are a dozen girls in Butembo and Beni who had children with doctors during the Ebola epidemic, but today others are sent back by their families because they had children with foreigners...We will continue our fight to end these abuses."
Comment: UPDATE 28/09/21: Sky News reported that the accused were Congolese and foreigners and that these allegations may be the "tip of the iceberg".