#cha#In September 2020 the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office launched a UK Strategy on safeguarding, against sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment in the aid sector.
The corporate report was indented to “Improve global standards and performance on safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment in the international aid sector”, according to the UK Government.
However, a UK watchdog reports that the British government has not listened to victims in its efforts to tackle abuse in the humanitarian sector, after the revelation of “sex for aid” scandals, in the international aid sector.
The UN has reported that there are almost 24 million people in Afghanistan with as many as 8.7 million Afghans struggling with starvation, and nearly 40 percent of the population living below the poverty line.
The rise in poverty across northern regions of Afghanistan is leaving more and more women to turn to sex work to escape the grinding poverty.
Forgotten Women, a non-profit organisation from London is raising funds for vulnerable women around the world.
The organisations that have been running for the past 5 years, and in January began organising treks with women and have managed to raise over £50,000 in the first event, for women in business across Malawi, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
The journey of Forgotten Women started in 2013 during the Syrian conflict, women were lured into transactional sex, abused, and raped and as the bombs fell on the women of Aleppo, they were miscarrying due to fear and panic of the chaos of war.
The charity registered in October 2016, with their first safe aid delivery being for the Syrian women of the war on the border of Turkey and Syria.
Five years on, they continue to protect the dignity of women around the world, including their most recent exploration of women’s business in Bangladesh is one of the charity’s outreaches.
Sunny Bahia, founder, and CEO spoke to Asian Sunday about some of the work they have been doing as a “Women’s charity, for women by women”, delivering safe aid.
“We have had a surge of women contacting us, for a mental health programme that we run in the UK, for women who are isolated, so brainstormed that if we do this trek, we can raise money for vulnerable women around the world and help these women who are feeling isolated, to bring the community together.
“We are just trying to get out there and spread awareness of the situation on the ground, so we also have started sponsoring events, like last week, we sponsored a Bollywood event that happened last week, at the O2 Indigo”.
The founder of the UK charity says, “On the ground women are exploited, for aid boxes, so that’s sex for aid, when we tell people this, they are quite shocked that this is going on and its news to them.
“The events we do are to raise funds, but most importantly it is to raise awareness, for example, we do women in business, so that’s to stop women turning to prostitution, make them independent and protect their dignity”.
In countries like Yemen, Somalia, Syria and even Afghanistan, where there is an emergency, or there are women or children that have been displaced, charities are working to deliver aid to help these women who don’t have any support in bringing in income.
“This aid is vital, as it is food aid, and when this food aid is given, there is a condition on that box, where a woman will have to sacrifice herself, her body, in order to get that food to feed her children, which we have witnessed in many countries and in especially in refugee camps”.
The charity plans to remain operating as a small organisation, as Bahaia says “We are looking for quality over quantity, as whenever we deliver projects, we make sure that we deliver them and invest in the right amount of money in these projects, so these women get a return”.
Around eight weeks ago, Sunny and a team of three members went to Afghanistan, to deliver aid boxes to vulnerable women.
“I made sure that every woman, who was given the aid box, was greeted with a hug and a kiss and made her feel that she is human and respected, which reduced them to tears”.
The real-life stories of Tahira from Afghanistan, Begum from Myanmar and many others, are shared through the charity, as they work to rebuild their lives out of sexual abuse and poverty-stricken situations.
“My name is Tahira, I have four children. Our life is very difficult, my husband died six months ago which was very hard on us.
“Somebody came to our home to buy my daughter Mahnaz who is four when he saw her, he offered me £400… My sister did not let me sell my daughter, I told her I have no choice but to sell her. We haven’t eaten anything for three days”.
In 2017, the Rohingya genocide saw over 740,000 Rohingya Muslims feeling to Bangladesh, to avoid ethnic cleansing by the Myanmar army in a military crackdown.
Begum is just one of the thousands of survivors, amongst Rohingya women, who were captured and raped during the crisis.
“They came to our village, and they started to burn down our homes. They put petrol over me, my baby was in my lap. They pulled my baby away and killed her in front of me by setting her on fire. They raped me over and over again, I begged them to stop but they wouldn’t listen and continued.”
Join the #MeToo movement to raise awareness against sexual violence and sexual assault.
