New sex abuse claims against aid workers exposed in DRC
16 May 2021
Crime scenes: These artist
illustrations portray a man
sitting at a hotel, a hospital
and a maternity ward in
Butembo, a DRC aid hub in
the Ebola outbreak of 2018-
2020 where local women were
allegedly abused. Illustrations:
Robert Flummerfelt/The New
Humanitarian
More than 20 Congolese women have accused aid workers of sexual abuse in new claims that include rape and unwanted pregnancies, with United Nations investigators uncovering similar allegations of workers exploiting vulnerable women.
The New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation spoke to 22 women in Butembo, who said male aid workers responding to an Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) offered them jobs in exchange for sex.