The executive director of Oxfam International said on Sunday she was heartbroken by a sexual misconduct scandal in Haiti involving aid workers that prompted Britain’s government to threaten to cut off aid funding to charities.
Oxfam, one of Britain’s biggest charities, has condemned the behavior of some former staff in Haiti after The Times said aid workers paid for sex while on a mission to help those affected by the 2010 earthquake.
Oxfam knew of concerns about the conduct of two of the men caught up in the Haiti sex scandal before they were appointed to senior roles in the earthquake-hit country https://t.co/8Mi8mVZTfA
— The Times and Sunday Times (@thetimes) February 12, 2018
Monday briefing: Oxfam pleads for charity amid sex scandal https://t.co/uXbJTv7Fnx
— The Guardian (@guardian) February 12, 2018
Britain’s aid minister said the government would cut aid funding from any charity that did not comply with a new review into their work overseas, calling reports of sexual exploitation in the sector “utterly despicable.”
Winnie Byanyima, who became executive director of Oxfam International in 2013, said she was saddened by what took place in 2010 and that it could not happen under systems and rules put in place since.
“I feel deeply, deeply hurt. … What happened in Haiti was a few privileged men abusing the very people they were supposed to protect – using the power they had from Oxfam to abuse powerless women. It breaks my heart,” Byanyima said in an interview with Reuters TV in New York.
“We want to restore trust. We want to build that trust. We are committing to be honest, to be transparent and to be accountable in addressing this issue of sexual misconduct. We are in a different place today,” she said.
Aid agency Oxfam could lose British funding over reports its workers sexually exploited Haitian minors. Worse, they covered it up, allowing perpetrators like Roland van Hauwermeiren to stay in the aid industry. Now they're "ashamed." Funds should be cut. https://t.co/fxCSiZtkMv
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) February 12, 2018
British Aid Minister Penny Mordaunt said on Sunday that she would write to British charities that work overseas demanding they declare any problems relating to the duty they have to protect their staff and the people they work with from harm and abuse — so-called safeguarding.
Byanyima said charities must stop people who do not share their values from joining their organizations.
“We need to do more in terms of investigations and sharing the results of those investigations so that offenders don’t go on to offend in other organizations,” she said.
She said Oxfam would share with the relevant authorities all the information it had relating to the 2010 incident.
“You know it’s not within our power to return people who are not our staff to Haiti to face prosecution,” she said. “But we will avail everything that we know from the investigation to whoever authority, whichever authority wants to have this.”
Yes, the #oxfamscandal is terrible. But please don't let it be used to shut down the invaluable work that #Oxfam does around the world. Millions of people in desperate need would suffer as a result.
— George Monbiot (@GeorgeMonbiot) February 12, 2018
If the Oxfam scandal teaches us anything, it should be that not one single organisation is ‘above’ abuse. Don’t ever be fooled that prestigious organisations/professionals are ‘better than’ – in fact, they often rely on that prestigious reputation to cover up what they are doing.
— Dr. Jessica Taylor (@DrJessTaylor) February 11, 2018
By Angela Moore
Recommended Video:
Friends Read Free
Copy
Facebook
Tweet
