A report revealed that Syrian women are being sexually abused in exchange for aid. Aid workers told the BBC that the exploitation is so widespread that some Syrian women are refusing to go to distribution centers because people would assume they had offered their bodies for the aid they brought home. Despite warnings about the abuse three years ago, a new report shows it is continuing in the south of the war-torn country, said the report. One worker claimed that some humanitarian agencies were turning a blind eye to the exploitation because using third parties and local officials was the only way of getting aid into dangerous parts of Syria that international staff could not access, reported the BBC. In June 2015, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) surveyed 190 women and girls in Daraa and Quneitra. Its report suggested about 40 percent had said sexual violence took place when they were accessing services, including humanitarian aid. Danielle Spencer, a humanitarian adviser working for a charity, claimed the aid sector turned a blind eye to ensure that aid still got into southern Syria. "Sexual exploitation and abuse of women and girls has been ignored, its been known about and ignored for seven years," she said. "The UN and the system as it currently stands have chosen for womens bodies to be sacrificed. "Somewhere there has been a decision made that it is OK for womens bodies to continue to be used, abused, violated in order for aid to be delivered for a larger group of people." A spokesman for the UNHCR, Andrej Mahecic, said it was "important to understand that in any aid emergency there is a risk of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, and to abuse somebody who is in need of assistance is despicable". He added that while the allegations relating to 2015 were "incomplete, fragmented and unsubstantiated" the UN nevertheless had taken some action when they first surfaced. He said the UN refugee agency had no access to the area of southern Syria where the abuse was alleged to have taken place, said the BBC.