Sexual abuse ‘endemic’ in aid sector: Report

Sexual abuse of vulnerable women and girls by international aid workers is “endemic” and has been happening for years, with perpetrators easily moving around the sector undetected, a UK government report revealed on Tuesday.

An inquiry heard “horrifying” stories of aid staff sexually exploiting the people they were meant to be helping, including one homeless girl in Haiti who was given $1 by a worker for a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) and raped, CNN quoted the report by the House of Commons International Development Committee as saying.

The scathing report comes after historical allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct by employees of several top NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, surfaced earlier this year.

Those allegations prompted the Committee to launch the inquiry into abuse in the aid sector in February.

Tuesday’s report noted that sexual misconduct by aid workers and peacekeepers had a “documented history stretching back nearly 20 years”.

It also recounted the sexual exploitation and abuse of girls between the ages of 13 and 18 by UN and aid agency staff in refugee camps in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone in 2001.

Abuses ranged from unwanted sexual comments to rape. Victims suffered problems including abortions and exposure to sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.

“The power imbalance is predominantly, although not exclusively, men abusing women and girls,” said the report, which warned that the cases that had come to light were likely just the “tip of the iceberg”.

The committee also criticized aid groups for failing to tackle the problem despite being aware of reports of abuse for years.

“Repeatedly, reports of sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers and/or peacekeepers have emerged, the sector has reacted, but then the focus has faded,” the report found.