Sexual exploitation occurs very rarely, but it’s an “almost existential issue” for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), which is committed to tackling the scourge, the agency’s Deputy High Commissioner said on Tuesday.

Announcing measures that are designed to encourage victims to come forward, including a global telephone hotline, Kelly T. Clements said that the number of reported cases of abuse has doubled among its more than 1,000 international partners in the last year.

This shows that what UNHCR is doing “is working”, she told Jens Renner of UN News, adding that people now “know where to go” to raise the alarm.