New York: In the African country of Congo, 21 employees of the World Health Organization (WHO) have been accused of raping women and minor girls. This disclosure has been made in an independent investigation. These incidents were carried out in Congo from 2018 to 2020. WHO employees went to Congo to fight the Ebola epidemic when they sexually assaulted many women and girls.
What’s in the report?
According to an independent report, in the year 2018, the WHO team that went to prevent the Ebola epidemic took job interviews for some women there. The 43-year-old woman told that she had gone to the WHO for a job in Congo to spread awareness for Ebola in her area, but there the interviewer demanded sex in exchange for giving her a job. When the woman refused, he forcibly raped her. Hundreds of similar stories have happened to women in remote areas and villages of Congo.
WHO chief said this
After the allegations were confirmed, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed grief over the incident. He said that his priority is to bring punishment to the perpetrators. The investigation team also found that women admitted to the hospital were also sexually assaulted.
Employees promised jobs
About 83 such people were detected who sexually abused women during the Ebola epidemic. Of these, 21 were WHO employees. These employees, who went to help the affected, used to make women a victim of their lust after adding intoxicants to their drinks. While some women say that they were sexually exploited in the name of job promises.
Victim women also told that during the sexual assault the accused did not use contraception and later used to pressurize for abortion. Some of the victim women told that even a doctor had raped them by promising them a job. The investigation into these incidents started when about 50 women made serious allegations against the people who helped them. Significantly, during the Ebola epidemic, about two thousand people died in Congo.
