DR CONGO: WHO sets up panel to probe allegations of sex abuse by aid workers

The World Health Organization (WHO) has set up a panel to probe allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by aid workers during the recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

WHO appointed two women leaders on Thursday to head the investigations including Congolese human rights advocate, Julienne Lusenge, and former Nigerien minister, Aïchatou Mindaoudou, who will co-chair the commission.

The commission will “swiftly establish the facts, identify and support survivors, ensure that any ongoing abuse has stopped, and hold perpetrators to account”, according to a WHO statement.

The UN health agency tweeted its full statement: WHO has appointed two distinguished leaders @AMindaoudou and @LusengeJ to co-chair an Independent Commission on sexual abuse and exploitation during the response to the tenth #Ebola epidemic in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, #DRC.

A year-long investigation published last month by The New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation indicated that aid workers who identified themselves as WHO staff sexually abused women during the Ebola outbreak in the country.

Local women were allegedly plied with drinks, “ambushed” in hospitals, forced to have sex, and two became pregnant in allegations covering the period between 2018 and March 2020.