Syrian refugee women forced to give sexual services to receive aid, UN report alleges
WOMEN in refugee camps found themselves having to offer sexual favours in return for aid from the United Nations, a report has alleged.
In the latest accusation to hit the aid sector, humanitarian workers were said to harass and abuse women and girls in Syria to the point where some stopped asking for aid. Others provided “sexual services” to receive meals.
The allegations were published by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which investigated gender-based violence in the region last year and found aid was often being exchanged for sex.
The report stated: “Examples were given of women or girls marrying officials for a short period of time for ‘sexual services’ to receive meals; distributors asking for phone numbers of women and girls; giving them lifts to their houses ‘to take something in return’ or obtaining distributions ‘in exchange for a visit’ or ‘for services, such as spending a night with them’.”
The UN was warned three years earlier but, the report suggests, the abuse continued until the end of 2017.
The report, entitled Voices from Syria 2018, said aid distribution sites dominated by men had become perceived by women as no-go areas.
A teenage girl from Idlib in northern Syria said: “The more the girl gives to the distributor, the more aid she will receive.” The girl said some women stopped asking for aid for fear they would have to pay with their bodies.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC), headed by former Labour MP David Miliband, released its own survey two years ago which indicated similar abuses. The IRC said: “We launched new programmes and systems to better protect women and girls in southern Syria.” But, the latest UN report suggests agencies failed to stop the abuse.
Revelations that Oxfam workers had paid for prostitutes during Haiti’s 2010 earthquake have exposed a widespread problem. UN programmes in Syria have been accused of lacking impartiality and allowing President Bashar al-assad to control distribution of aid.