Covering up and minimizing sexual abuse by aid workers in Gaza is official policy

AP reported last week:

The United Nations in Chad has launched an internal investigation, following an Associated Press report on allegations of sexual exploitation of Sudanese refugees, which included aid workers.

The statement, written days after the AP published the story last week, was seen on Tuesday. It said the seriousness of the allegations cited in the AP’s story, warranted immediate and firm measures and that those responsible should be punished.

“Refugees are already vulnerable and traumatized by the events that led them to flee their country and under no circumstances should they be the victims of abuse by those who are supposed to help them,” said Francois Batalingaya, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Chad.

Yet the UN itself admits that aid workers in Gaza have been sexually exploiting women. A May UN Protection Cluster report says Gaza women are exposed to "violence, exploitation and abuse, trafficking and forced prostitution, including by aid workers."

Another report from April called "Risk Mitigation Assessment Report to Prevent SEA in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank"  warned of an "epidemic" of sexual abuse by aid workers: "[H]umanitarian actors must scale up their PSEA and Safeguarding capacity to prevent an epidemic of SEA [sexual exploitation and abuse] abuses committed by personnel related to humanitarian operations. This should be also seconded by programmatic actions to protect  the most vulnerable from sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers but also other actors. "

This was confirmed by a Kuwaiti who visited Gaza more recently. 

Why are there no press releases by the UN about this, the way they issued about sexual abuse by aid workers in Chad? The April report itself tells us the reason. It lists the risks of publicizing these findings:

Identified risks are: 

- Humanitarian aid diverted causing further harm to the community and increasing tensions

- Potential retaliation against aid workers (physical harm) 

- Lost of trust in aid institutions calling for further acts of incivility: deterioration of the operational environment 

- Media attention to safeguarding incidents which can also have an uncontrolled political manipulation 

Covering up and minimizing sexual abuse by aid workers in Gaza is official policy. UN Women's report on gender issues in Gaza from September didn't mention a word about abuse by aid workers. UNICEF says it prioritizes combating sexual abuse by aid workers worldwide but does not discuss Gaza. 

The official line is that humanitarian workers are angels. When one gets accused of, say, being a terrorist who rampaged through Israeli communities on October 7, even when evidence from his own social media shows his clear support for terror, nobody wants to believe or report that these aid workers are anything but righteous. 

Shining a light on how aid workers abuse women? Everywhere else in the world this is considered an imperative. In Gaza, it would cause more harm.

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