Two female aid workers and two internally displaced persons IDPs, spoke to OJSLIM MEDIA about their experiences of sexual harassment, violence and even rape while working and assisting displaced persons and living in a makeshift refugee camp respectively.
Aid agencies and nongovernmental organizations are slowly beginning to recognize that sexual exploitation and abuse against vulnerable persons and persons displaced because of conflict, is a serious problem within the industry, and that perpetrators are often men holding senior positions.
It is in line with these abhorrent acts that this publication, powered by The Society for the Promotion of Initiatives in Sustainable Development and Welfare SOPISDEW, the Cameroon Community Media Network CCMN with support from the International Council of Voluntary Agencies ICVA, seeks to lift the lid on the problem, collecting survey data from hundreds of victims and survivors. The results reveal that sexual harassment, unwanted touching, sexual comments and, in some cases, rape, are a common experience for women and girls in remote and dangerous humanitarian settings.
More women responded to our question on the Abuse survey than men; some said they had suffered sexual violence while on the job, including those who said they had been raped and the others who said they had experienced unwanted sexual touching while in running away from the gunshots of the stalemate in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon.
Similarly, the Humanitarian Women's Network survey, which received responses from more than 1,000 people working for 70 organizations, found that 4 percent of female aid workers said they have been raped while carrying out humanitarian work. A further 48 percent reported unwanted touching and 55 percent reported that they have experienced sexual advances from male colleagues during their professional careers.
The Society for the Promotion of Initiatives in Sustainable Development and Welfare SOPISDEW, the Cameroon Community Media Network CCMN with support from the International Council of Voluntary Agencies ICVA, have also been investigating these issues.
However, these organizations believe that it will take a huge culture shift within the sector to achieve meaningful change. Mrs. Ngala Jenet, a field expert on Gender Based Violence, GBV, also told OJSLIM MEDIA that more in-depth research is needed since the current surveys have only scratched the surface and have focused on interviewing only a few humanitarian aid workers and few displaced persons. Mrs. Ngala Jenet said she expects levels of sexual harassment and abuse to be higher among displaced women.
As part of its ongoing coverage of this very important issue, OJSLIM MEDIA interviewed four women (Two female aid workers and two internally displaced persons IDPs) who said they experienced sexual harassment or assault while working and assisting displaced persons and living in a makeshift refugee camp respectively. We have changed their names: all four wished to remain anonymous for professional reasons, but were willing to tell their stories in the hope that it can bring about change. Their accounts share many similarities and highlight a number of fundamental problems within the humanitarian sector, and life in a refugee camp.
Marvel was sexually assaulted and suffocated in a nearby bush in the North-West region, by a gang of local men in 2019 while working for a major humanitarian organization. While she does not hold her organization accountable for what happened, she said she was astounded by their suggestion that she should go to the beach for a few days and then go back to work.
"I dont fault them for it happening to me but they do have a responsibility to protect and look after their staff and that was lacking," she said before adding that, "It is because of the stupid mentality, that you are supposed to just carry on because these kinds of things are part of the nature of the work."
Another victim, Alicia, said her own experience of being drugged and raped by a motorbike rider while working in Bamenda revealed a certain lawlessness within the sector.
People get out into the field, whether they are expats or locals, and they get promoted to positions of authority and have money. Theres a sense they are out there on the range and therere no security in town and they can get away with anything, she said.
This was echoed by another survivor, Kate, who said that both the man with whom she was pressured into having sex and another who tried to bribe her into it, used their positions of power and the fact that they were on a mission away from headquarters to get away with whatever they wanted.
They are only there for a short time and theyre confident youre not going to report them because you only have access to more junior staff, she said.
This stupid mentality, that youre supposed to just carry on because these kinds of things are part of the nature of the work within the humanitarian sector, especially on operations in conflict settings, is exacerbated by the fact that men occupy most senior field positions, according to Mrs. Ngala Jenet. In more dangerous settings, the cluster leads tend to be men. They frequently have a buck up attitude towards women who complain about sexual assault or inappropriate behavior, telling them they should expect such things where law and order have broken down, she said, directly quoting one of the aid organization security officers her team interviewed for their research paper.
Managers need to show zero tolerance toward sexist or homophobic comments and attitudes to create a better work environment, she said.
Falone experienced this first hand when she was living as an IDP in Menchum Division. Though she was not the only woman in the compound where she lived, she felt like one of the boys, this turned sour after she was attacked by one of them, while alone in the compound. She managed to escape from what could have turned into rape only to find her fellow women unsupportive as she struggled to come to terms with what had happened.
"They made me feel like I was an embarrassment, some kind of loser. I felt like they didnt know how to deal with a woman going through an emotional time I was seen as a threat and they were turned off by me," she said.
Further findings also revealed that in 44 percent of self-reported cases of abuse or harassment, the perpetrators were men working in the aid industry itself, often occupying senior roles. This helps to explain why so few women report their abuse through official channels.
Many of the cases being reported to us include abuse of power, a boss harassing or sexually violating their employees, expatriates committing sexual violence against national staff, donors sexually harassing funding staff, said Sharon Bih, who was prompted to set up an association to comfort victims of sexual abuse after she was raped while working for an international NGO in Sudan.
If the survivor is in a lower position of power, they have less control of the situation, less voice. The accused, if they have more power, can better control the narrative. This logically results in situations where survivors will either be afraid to report, for fear of retaliation or not being believed, or the creation of a hostile situation if they do report.” she added.
As a young woman trying to break into the sector, turning down the advances of a mentor and boss, someone who holds your future career in their hands can seem impossible, according to Kate, whose married boss propositioned her while they were working together in Buea.
When youre in a conflict scenario and your boss is hitting on you, who are you going to tell and how are you going to get out when maybe you need a special flight or a boat to leave, plus your boss is the one who gives you permission to go on leave. If that person wants to have sex with you then it puts you in a very difficult position and I didnt see any option other than compliance, she said.
Two years later, while working on an emergency response in the South West Region, Kate found herself in a similar situation. Working as a contractor at the time, she was offered a lucrative staff position in exchange for sex by a high-level U.N. official during a conversation in a hotel bar. When she rejected his advance, he became physically and verbally aggressive, before walking out of the bar.
Kate's boss advised her to report the encounter, saying she had heard similar and worse stories about the man. But when she went to lodge an official complaint, she was told to drop it by the resident stress counselor since any report would cross the desk of the man she was accusing.
I just tried to put it behind me and get on with the job but I constantly had the feeling I wasnt safe on missions and it added a lot of stress to the job. Organizations have got all these policies but you feel theyre only good on paper, theyre not there to protect you. And theres this network of people protecting each other at that senior level, she said.
Some of the victims OJSLIM MEDIA spoke to, said they felt their superiors deliberately mishandled or silenced their complaints, others said that their organizations simply didnt know how to respond. This is backed up by Ndum Charitys research, which found few organizations had robust procedures in place detailing how to respond to a case of sexual harassment or assault against field staff. In contrast, kidnapping is something most organizations are prepared for, Ndum Charity said. Its not because kidnapping happens a lot, its because it paralyzes the agency when it happens, and so organizations give it priority over sexual assault, she said.
Marvel's first conversation with her employer after being assaulted in a nearby bush in the North-West region, revealed that, the organization had no clear procedures in place she said.
I called the emergency line and the person was very compassionate but the first question she asked me was what had I been wearing and had I been drinking, she said.
Terrified of being attacked again, Marvel begged the organization to send someone from Bamenda, approximately a three-hour drive away from where she was staying, to be with her. The woman on the line told her she didnt know the protocol and could not send anyone until the morning. I sat in my little room rocking and watching the windows to see if someone was coming for seven hours straight, Marvel recalled.
When she saw her organizations car pull up in the morning, Marvel was disappointed to see her organization had only sent a driver“I assumed they would send someone, a woman perhaps, to help me through it but they just sent the driver, she said.
After a day spent being examined by two male doctors, which she described as incredibly invasive and distressing, followed by a psychiatrist and then going to the police station where she was asked to sign paperwork without a translator, Marvel was told by the organization that she needed to stay a second night.
At first I thought I could do it, but then I was still in that little room and it started to get dark and I realized there was no way I could stay another night, she said. Marvel asked the driver to take her to a friends house.
It took the organization a week to get Marvel home and even getting them to agree to that was a struggle. Originally they said they were going to send me to their office in Bamenda but I told them absolutely not, I wanted to go home to my family where I felt safe, she said.
In the months that followed, all our victims became reclusive and depressed, experiencing panic attacks, and would often sleep with other women because they were too afraid to be alone. Unsurprisingly, the performance of the aid workers at work went downhill.
The straw that broke the camel's back was being told I had to pack up and out within a week when I had initially been told that I had six months to make the transition. I had a house, cats and a dog, people who depended on me, I couldnt just pack up and leave. Also, I had nowhere to go, one of the aid worker told OJSLIM MEDIA
All of the women who spoke to OJSLIM MEDIA described how powerless they felt in terms of bringing their abuser to justice, seeking compensation from their organization for unfair dismissal or unpaid medical bills, or even simply getting support and acknowledgment from their employer for what had happened.
It took two years for Marvel to receive a response from her organization regarding her request for payment of all related medical expenses after she developed posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of her ordeal. The organization argued they werent liable because Marvel had been on rest and recovery leave at the time of her attack.
Falone is still fighting her organization and seeking lost wages and reimbursement for counseling, inspired by the Daniel Damians case, an aid worker who was kidnapped while working at a refugee camp and successfully sued his employer, the, for gross negligence and failing in its duty of care.
Alicia said she sought legal advice after being fired. Her lawyer told her that although she had a case, it would take years to get through the courts.
"There are myriad barriers for survivors not only in receiving some form of justice, but also the support that they may need to heal from their experiences.”
Nonexistent or unresponsive complaint systems, the lack of functioning or appropriate legal systems, and contract issues that result in loss of medical support if one leaves their organization, are just a few examples of such barriers.
While many of these are difficult to address, they are not insurmountable. Humanitarian organizations should respond by putting in place their own robust complaint and investigative systems. The key is having humanitarian organizations committed to creating safe workplaces for their employees.
By Stephen Ojang.
This Publication is powered by The Society for the Promotion of Initiatives in Sustainable Development and Welfare SOPISDEW, the Cameroon Community Media Network CCMN with support from the International Council of Voluntary Agencies ICVA.
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