The Cabo Delgado provincial prosecutor's office revealed that it has opened 25 cases this year of sexual abuse against displaced persons from terrorism, committed by workers from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide humanitarian assistance to victims of attacks by groups linked to the Islamic State.

Of the 25 cases of sexual abuse reported by victims and referred to the Prosecutor's Office, most are employees of non-governmental humanitarian aid organizations, in which they demanded sex in exchange for food from displaced women and girls living in displacement camps or resettlement neighborhoods in Cabo Delgado province, said Gilroy Fazenda, spokesman for the local prosecutor's office, at a press conference last Thursday.

Without specifying, continued Gilroy Fazenda, quoted by VOA, some of these processes also involve leaders elected by the populations to represent them, who take advantage of their position to exchange sex with food favors.

"There are cases, and they are not few, where women and girls have been victims of violence exactly in this context of humanitarian support," said Gilroy Fazenda, without giving the names of the organizations involved in the scandal.

"Usually it is employees of NGOs, and Civil Society Organizations that are providing support to the displaced," who have most demanded sexual exchanges for favors in food distribution, the magistrate added.

"Condemnable, reprehensible and inadmissible acts"

Meanwhile, the Human Rights League (LDH) in Pemba declined to comment on the case, referring us to the Mozambican Association of Women in Legal Careers.

The Mozambican analyst Manuel Simango, who recognizes that sexual abuse by humanitarian workers in war situations is common, criticized the unethical attitude and lack of professional ethics of those involved.

"These acts that are occurring in the areas where the refugees are in Cabo Delgado are reprehensible, reproachable and inadmissible acts," which exposes the absence of moral performance, said Manuel Simango, insisting that the Government, the United Nations and Civil Society organizations must monitor the situation so as not to expose to a marked vulnerability to the displaced of war.

However, the provincial prosecutor's office says it is training prosecutors, bailiffs, assistant bailiffs, and gender focal points of the public prosecutor's office to prevent sexual abuse and punish offenders.