Paper details
| Paper authors | Delu Lusambya Mwenebyake, PhD Reseacher Erasmus University Rotterdam |
| In panel on | Coping strategies of affected people in a resource-constrained environment |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
|
Abstract
Recent international policy papers emphasize the importance of trust in accountability mechanisms and call for its reinforcement to encourage their use by people affected by crises, thereby improving service delivery. However, the stories surrounding sexual violence and abuse in the humanitarian sector severely undermine this trust. The question remains: Are existing, internationalized, standardized accountability mechanisms effective in restoring trust in agencies?
This chapter contributes to the debate on the value of trust-building in humanitarian actions by examining how accountability mechanisms shape trust to ensure an efficient response to sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is based on empirical data from SEA survivors and humanitarian actors. It critically analyzes the accountability mechanisms used by humanitarian actors to enable survivors to report cases of SEA.
I found that SEA takes many forms, including sex, in exchange for jobs, funding, job security, and promotion. It often occurs in contexts where survivors' choices and opportunities are limited. Of the twenty survivors we interviewed, 35% were unaware of the formal accountability mechanisms available to report cases. Of the 65% who were aware of them, the majority used community-driven accountability mechanisms; among them, 40% expressed concern about the trustworthiness of their existing mechanisms. they doubted that the information given could be divulged outside the channel, which would negatively impact their security and reputation.
The paper concludes that as long as accountability mechanisms remain unknown and untrustworthy, survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse may not use them, and these phenomena will persist. The paper advocates for trust-based accountability mechanisms to ensure their use by SEA survivors and positive masculinity awareness to fight the phenomenon.
