By Sammie Jones-
Women who work at the African Union Commission (AUC) suffer serious levels of sexual harassment, an internal investigation has found.
The report states that most of the victims of the widespread harassment are short-term staff, youth volunteers and interns looking for jobs. It added that staff behind the harassment made “believable promises to young women that they will be offered contracts. Many times, these promises have provrn to be false.
The awful state of affairs is worsened by the fact the AUC shamefully has no sexual harassment policy. The team also found incidents of bribery, corruption, bullying, discrimination and intimidation
The culprits of responsible for conducts of sexual harassment “position themselves as ‘gate-keepers’ and ‘king-makers'”, the report stated.
The inquiry launched in May has only now been revealed by BBC Africa, exposing the awful state of affairs there. All staff members who had a complaint were invited for a confidential interview.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE
The special committee was formed by the AUC Chairperson, Moussa Faki, following an anonymous letter alerted him to the abuse.
The team found 44 cases of alleged sexual harassment and that young women were being “exploited for sex in exchange for jobs”. The report did not name any of the alleged perpetrators. Interviewees said reporting incidents of sexual harassment was often counterproductive as there was no process internally to do so because the AUC does not have a sexual harassment policy.
The team also found incidents of bribery, corruption, bullying, discrimination and intimidation.