Aid workers in Mozambique are forcing cyclone victims to trade sex for aid, according to Human Rights Watch.
The group claimed local officials in areas affected by cyclone Idai exploited female victims sexually before providing them with relief items.
In a report Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that “Victims, residents, and aid workers” revealed that “local community leaders, some linked to the ruling Frelimo party, demanded money from people affected by the cyclone in exchange for including their names on the aid distribution list.
In some cases, women without money were instead coerced into engaging in sex with local leaders in exchange for a bag of rice.”
Sex for food
One woman was quoted by the Human Rights Watch as saying that an aid worker told her he will “help her if she helped him too.”
She said that in the evening, the man brought a bag of rice, a bag of corn flour, and one kilo of beans.
“When he arrived, he placed the bags on the floor, and started touching his thing [penis] and told me it was now my turn thank him,” she said.
“I told my children to go to my friend’s house. When they left, I slept with him.”
A second woman also revealed that she spoke to a community leader who offered to help with food.
“He said he could help me if I was nice to him,” she said. “We agreed on a time to meet and do the thing [have sex]. When we finished, he gave me only a kilo of beans. When I complained, he said ‘Tomorrow there will be more.’”
Dewa Mavhinga who is the Southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch was quoted as saying that “The sexual exploitation of women struggling to feed their families after Cyclone Idai is revolting and cruel and should be stopped immediately”.
Mavhinga added that “The authorities should promptly investigate reports of women being coerced into exchanging sex for food and appropriately punish anyone using their position of power to exploit and abuse women.”
Diversion of aid
This month prosecutors in Mozambique arrested some persons for allegedly misappropriating relief items meant for victims of the cyclone.
The tropical storm killed thousands of people in three Southern African countries including Mozambique.
Cyclone Idai ripped off many communities, cutting them off major cities in order to access humanitarian aid.
Some people have been trapped and humanitarian assistance is yet to reach them. There are many still living in camps and yet to even think of rebuilding their lives.
Hundreds and almost millions affected by the disaster are still in dire need of humanitarian support service and food.
Source: Africafeeds.com
