Could genealogy websites help catch aid worker sex abusers?

A file photo of women carrying bags during a food distribution by various relief agencies in Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The aid sector was rocked by reports in 2018 that Oxfam staff paid women in Haiti for sex while helping survivors of the 2010 earthquake, but humanitarian experts say sexual abuse happens across the industry and has been hushed up for decades. — Reuters

LONDON: Technology that helped catch a US serial murderer, dubbed the Golden State Killer, could be used to track down aid workers who sexually abuse girls and women overseas, according to the team behind a groundbreaking project in the Philippines.

In abuse cases which result in pregnancy, scientists say DNA could be taken from the child with the mother’s consent and uploaded to a genealogy database to trace the father.