In this episode of Based Camp, Simone walks through a question most humanitarian orgs would rather leave off the annual report: how often are aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, and refugee-support staff sexually assaulted — and why do official databases, NGOs, and political tribes treat some perpetrators as unspeakable?The episode starts with a 2024 r/rapecounseling post from a high-school volunteer who said she was assaulted by a man she had been helping at a refugee organization, then deleted the thread. From there Simone stacks official sources against what workers say to each other when they think no one is compiling a press release.
Show Notes
A July 2024 Reddit post in r/rapecounseling by a user identifying as a high-school-age female volunteer describes being raped for several hours and nearly killed by “one refugee guy” she had been helping weekly at a refugee support organization and temporary accommodations.
* She wrote that she had been assisting families, talking with them and their children, and helping with integration; “uncomfortable things happened from some guys” but she continued because she felt she was doing good.
* After the assault she lost her virginity to him, faced blame from some family/friends for volunteering in the first place, and questioned whether she had given “wrong signals” or dressed inappropriately relative to “their culture and religion.”
* The post is unsubstantiated and received little engagement.
OP ultimately deleted her post.
Ultimately, when it comes to aid work:
* Organizations seem to be systematically under-reporting cases of rape
* Sometimes refusing to report it entirely
* Most cases that get coverage have to do with organizational reporting, perhaps because it’s the one thing orgs think they can control
* When it comes to attacks by outsiders, the only place you see people opening up candidly is among volunteers on places like reddit
* And the craziest thing about women’s own accounts is both:
* How universal and distressing the women find harassment to be
* How ultimately dismissive they are of it, in a way that reminds me an awful lot of colonial-era texts I’ve read
Let’s get into it.
Scant Reporting
The Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD) has tracked major violent incidents against aid workers since 1997, records rape/serious sexual assault as a category.
* The report does not provide a number of reported rapes in 2025. Its provisional mid-year figures report roughly 230 aid-worker deaths through 30 June 2025, but it does not publish a rape or sexual-assault total for that period.
* The report does not say that rape was unreported, nor does it give a reason for omitting a 2025 rape total.
* Rape and sexual assault are within AWSD’s tracked incident categories, but the report’s 2025 discussion and tables present only killings, serious injuries, kidnappings, and arrests/detentions—not a separate sexual-violence count. Therefore, no defensible 2025 rape total can be extracted from this report.
* The report’s compilers explicitly flag underreporting as big problem in several contexts, especially in Sudan and with organizations refusing to report incidents because they might be nervous about losing funding
* They also have criteria that make many genuine incidents not get counted
* E.g. if someone was not kidnapped or detained for at least 24 hours, IT DOESN’T COUNT
* If someone was assaulted and not “seriously injured” IT DOESN’T COUNT
* Their full criteria
* Killing
* Kidnapping lasting more than 24 hours
* Serious injury
* Rape or sexual assault
* Arrest or detention lasting more than 24 hours — a category AWSD began tracking distinctly in 2025.
Known Cases
SOMETIMES THEY ARE AMERICAN: In late 2014, Sarah Pierce (pseudonym), a U.S. aid worker with the Carter Center in a remote South Sudan field site, was raped in her tent by an American colleague. She reported it the next day. After speaking about the incident and criticizing the organization’s support, her contract was not renewed; she described feeling she was effectively punished for reporting. The organization stated it provided medical care and counseling and acted out of concern for her welfare.
In February 2015, Canadian aid worker Megan Nobert was drugged (cocktail including morphine, codeine, oxycodone, and cocaine) and raped by a Syrian UNICEF contractor colleague on a UN base/Protection of Civilians site in Bentiu, South Sudan—an IDP/refugee-style camp setting. She woke up naked and ill with no memory of the assault. Toxicology confirmed the drugs. Her organization’s and UN response was described as dismissive; there was no meaningful investigation or accountability. Nobert later went public and founded Report the Abuse to collect other testimonies.
The most prominent public incident occurred in July 2016 at the Terrain Hotel compound in Juba, South Sudan—a site used by foreigners and aid workers during the civil war. South Sudanese government soldiers killed a local journalist, looted the compound, and raped several foreign women. One Western woman reported being raped by 15 soldiers after being given the choice of sex or being gang-raped and shot. Associated Press interviews with eight survivors (three of whom described rape) and reporting by Human Rights Watch, NPR, and The Guardian documented the attack. UN peacekeepers stationed nearby did not respond to calls for help. Many survivors requested anonymity to protect themselves or their organizations’ ongoing operations.
Underreporting, Reluctance, Cover-Ups
Report the Abuse (founded by Megan Nobert, the woman who was raped by Syrian UNICEF contractor) collected over 1,000 self-reports from aid workers (mostly international).
* Roughly 72% identified as survivors of sexual violence; around 13% of reports involved rape in some analyses. 87% knew a colleague who had experienced it.
* Perpetrators were frequently colleagues (one analysis put this at ~64% of cases).
A 2024 academic analysis of 62 public survivor testimonies found that in 45 of 60 cases the assailant’s behavior was described as condoned by supervisors or the organization.
* 54 out of 60 indicated that no legal or even internal complaint process was pursued after the incident
* Many victims were isolated or received no meaningful support. Shame, fear of career damage, not being believed, and “cowboy culture” in remote field settings are repeatedly cited barriers.
* See: #AidToo, or when situation permits rape: sexual violence among humanitarian aid workers
* They found that Incidents most often involve colleagues within the same organization; the next most common alleged perpetrators are staff from other agencies, peacekeepers, or armed groups. Assault by members of the local population is described as least common.
Where They Talk About it Without Talking About it
We do get a picture of reality when volunteers vent or trade advice online
E.g. a post on /r/peacecorps titled “It’s Hard Being a Woman in PC”
* “As I near the end of my two-year service I gotta say, I’m proud of myself. Because being a woman volunteer in certain host countries is freakin’ hard. I know male volunteers have their share of issues, but this post is for the women.”
* “During my training, I feel my team did the best to educate me about the reality of being a woman during service. They highlighted the help lines offered, the numbers of safety & security, and assurances of therapy should we need it in the future. And they warned us on how the men acted differently than what we’re used to. They even acted out scenarios and how to approach them safely. But guys, I think it’s impossible for us to fully be prepared even with having the knowledge beforehand. The hissing, whistling, and catcalling is a type of harassment we’re not used to in the United States. Yes, we have our share of pervs, but it’s not as normalized.”
* “While serving in Latin America, I’m always on edge. Waiting to be howled at, waiting to be approached by a sleazy male trying to hit on me. I can’t take a walk alone or do errands without men catcalling. It bleeds into prof…
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