DR Congo women accuse aid workers of sexual abuse

Displaced women gather for a discussion on recent kidnappings and sexual assaults committed by armed men around the internally displaced persons camp of Bijombo, South Kivu Province. © AFP

More than 20 women say they were sexually abused by aid workers during last year’s Ebola outbreak in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The information was revealed in a new report by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and The New Humanitarian news agency.

The women said they had been offered jobs in exchange for sex with men who claimed they worked for international aid groups, including the United Nations.

One woman described how she attended what she thought was a job interview with a Cameroonian man who said he worked for the World Health Organization.

Instead he raped her – then offered her work as a cleaner.

Another woman, who also says she was raped, is reported to have died after a botched abortion.

The WHO says it has identified two women who had potentially abusive relationships with individuals connected with the agency. It said the matter will be investigated

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