WHO aid workers ‘forced job seekers into sex’

Congolese women say that they were forced into sex during an ebola outbreak
Congolese women say that they were forced into sex during an ebola outbreak
ALEXIS HUGUET/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The World Health Organisation is facing a new wave of sexual misconduct allegations, including rape, by aid workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UN agency is at the centre of claims that women were forced to have sex with humanitarian staff when they applied for jobs during an ebola outbreak in the northeast of the country.

More than 20 women from the town of Butembo gave accounts of their experiences to journalists from the New Humanitarian news agency and Thomson Reuters Foundation. Last year 51 women from nearby Beni made similar allegations to the reporters of a “jobs for sex” scandal.

The women said their abusers came from a number of NGOs and UN agencies but the name of the WHO was raised