Power, Poverty, and Aid: The Mix That Fuelled Sex Abuse Claims in Congo

Sex-for-jobs schemes were an open secret during the Democratic Republic of Congo’s recent Ebola outbreak, half a dozen senior UN officials and NGO workers told reporters from The New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 

Strategies put in place to stop such abuses largely failed during the outbreak that swept through the country from 2018 to 2020, aid officials and workers, gender analysts, and researchers who examined the response told reporters in nearly a year of interviews. Reports commissioned by organisations and donors also cited abuse concerns.