The World Health Organization (WHO) has said aid workers sexually abused women during the Ebola outbreak in Congo.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was saddened by the allegations made between 2018 and 2020 and apologized.
"We must act immediately, and we will be responsible, in three areas. First, it is support, protection, and justice for the victims and survivors; said Gebreyesus.
The commission spoke with 63 women and 12 men affected. The allegations came a year after an investigation by the humanitarian news agency and the Thomson Reuters Institute. The abuse was not only perpetrated by UN agencies such as WHO, Children's Care, UNICEF and Immigration, IOM, but also aid agencies such as Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, World Vision, and ALIMA.
"I saw it all with my own eyes."
One of the victims, a woman who was a sweeper at an Ebola patient care center in Butembo, said she was forced to have sex with a WHO staff member before being offered the job.
'' I'm not the only one who's been through that! I have several fellow women who went to bed with people, had sex, and were given jobs after the act. I saw it all with my own eyes, I felt it in my own body. "
Malick Coulibaly, a member of the independent investigation panel, said the investigation revealed a total of nine allegations of rape. The women interviewed said their attackers did not use birth control, leading to other pregnancies. Coulibaly said some women said their rapists forced them to have abortions.
United Nations responsible
The girl, who identified herself as Joliana, one of the victims, was only 13 years old when she was raped by UN staff.
The WHO head of state said four people had been fired and two temporarily fired as a result of the scandal but did not name them. Tedros Gebreyesus also declined to say whether he would consider resigning.
Last week Germany, France, and several other European countries appointed Tedros for a second term as WHO leader.
