Oxfam International Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima has come out to apologize on behalf of the organization for the reported sexual misconduct exhibited by Oxfam staffers in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. She said that what happened in Haiti was heart breaking.
In the last few days, reports broke out in the media alleging that Oxfam covered up a prostitution scandal in Haiti where its former aid sexually abused women.
Oxfam staffers reportedly invited underaged female sexual workers to their homes and guest houses that were paid for by the charity organization, whom they paid and abused sexually.
But Oxfam denied claims thaf it covered up the use of prostitutes by aid workers, insisting that it had publicly announced an investigation at the time.
Critics say that although Oxfam commissioned an internal investigation and forced some of the staffers involved to resign, no disciplinary nor legal actions were taken against them.
In the wake of the ripples caused by the allegations, the Oxfam spokeswoman said that whereas the complaints regarding uderaged girls were lodged at the time, the charity couldn’t prove them.
“A number of staff were dismissed as a result of the investigation and others left the organisation before it was completed,” she told the press.
However, on Monday, Oxfam International’s Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima publicly apologized for the misconduct, in an interview with CGTN Africa.
“What those men in Haiti did was to betray the trust in over 1,000 people who put their lives at risk to do humanitarian work,” Byanyima said.
“On behalf of Oxfam, I want to apologize for the sexual misconduct of our staff which could have resulted into a breach of trust in Oxfam,” she told CGTN.
She said that the charity was committed “to be honest, transparent and accountable in addressing this issue of sexual misconduct”.
Byanyima said that charities need to do more in terms of not just carrying out investigations whenever such allegations come up but also to share the results of those investigations so that offenders don’t go on to offend in other organizations.
In a separate interview with Reuters, Byanyima said; “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”.
The controversy surrounding the behavior of Oxfam’s workers in Haiti has brought several other British charity organizations in sharp focus and reports have discovered similarities in the conduct.
UK’s Telegraph recently reported that more than 120 workers employed by Britain’s leading charities have been accused of sexual abuse in 2017 alone.
Figures indicate that last year, Oxfam recorded 87 incidents of sexual abuse, Save the Children recorded 31, Christian Aid 2, while the British Red Cross said there had been a “small number of cases” reported.
All the four charities receive money from the Department for International Development (DFID).
With activities spread across 90 countries world over, Oxfam international is a charity organization that works to end the injustices that cause poverty.
