Humanitarian workers need to visit brothels, apparently.

Basil, really we could all do this whether we have a direct debit or not. But I am so shocked by this article that I have kind of given up at this point.

Almondcakes, that's an excellent idea, I'm going to do that, thank you

Watch the film Whistleblower op, it was on netflix and still is I think. Based on a true story, I think the response to what the main character in the film attempted to do is petrifying.

I've just watched this, it's horrifying, these people were meant to be helping, instead they played an active part in the trafficking. No convictions so they got away with it all. Those poor girls, thinking they were safe when they saw the uniformed men.

I think anyone with a direct debit should email the charity with a link to the article, and ask for a statement on whether such behaviour is forbidden in the contracts of their aid workers.

I agree.
I read about humanitarian workers exchanging food for favours with children a few years ago and it did shock me to the core.
I began to wonder if that is why they do that work.

I am actually quite glad that article is as awful as it is and hope it'll backfire in that it will shine a beacon on this practice.

What cruikshank describes is so commonplace and is all to do with the huge power imbalance between aid workers and most of the indigenous population.

I was involved in some NGO work in Uganda some 20 years ago and left utterly disillusioned about how much 'good' humanitarian aid is doing.
I now support MSF because I think there's a place for fast disaster aid, but other than that I think 'International Aid' is rather self-serving.

Btw, when I arrived at the small district town I lived in various local girls offered their services as my house girl within literally minutes of my arrival. And none of them believed me when I said I had no house. White - rich - house. And, to be fair, many local people preferred to work for expats because they were beaten and raped less. And paid more.
I have no idea what the solution is, but clearly advocating that aid workers have a 'right' to sex is just ludicrous.

By which I mean, it remains a choice. A want, not a need.

No-one has ever died from lack of sex.

There is evidence that some men turn to each other for sex when there is no other option, ie South African mine workers and sub mariners.
It seems that some men are unable to do without sex.

Please note that I have stated 'some' men.

Yes, even sainted humanitarian aid workers exist in the context of patriarchy. Aid workers can find they wield power in very deprived countries. And in a patriarchy, a favourite way to express power has always been by abusing women and girls.

An acquaintance of mine worked as a nurse on a humanitarian aid mission in DR Congo in her early 20s (she is now in her 60s). She tells me that children in orphanages there were being prostituted for and by humanitarian aid workers. (She adopted her daughter from there in order to remove her from this prostitution ring in the only way she felt able at the time).

That's what patriarchy does: everything becomes about domination and entitlement, and women's bodies are the spoils of power. Colonialism, sexism,... it's the same basic dynamic, and both are at play here.

I'm really shocked by this. It's disgusting. And I#ve been incredibly naive, it never crossed my mind that a humanitarian worker would act this way.

Oh Gawd.

I've got direct debits to Unicef and Water Aid.

Are they shit, cruikshank?

If so, might just re-direct everything to Refuge and Rape Crisis

That article is horrific.

You know when our armed forces are deployed to bastion, there is a complete no fratenisation rule, even amongst already married couples. If they can cope with it without exploding testicles, I am pretty sure aid workers can too.

This is a last straw for me.

I have lost all faith that we are making any kind of progress.

Humanitarian aid, my arse. This is no different from sleeping dictionaries.

www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/jul/16/humanitarians-sex-workers-ethics

. Follow up letters about the original article

Yes, it's just another expression of the generalised belief that sex and reproduction is what women are for, Pontipines. And so when you decide to only view it functional terms, with a power imbalance thrown into the mix, then men's desire for sex can therefore take precedence over (prostituted) women's humanity.

I would whole-heartedly agree with that, GoatsDoRoam. Don't get me wrong, there were good people as well. But, even (or especially) at high-up levels, I saw a lot of sexual exploitation, and it was just nodded at, like it was a given.

yy craikshank

Re: the articles title "Why it's time to talk about humanitarian's sex lives", perhaps the answer to give is: Because a lot of westerners in developing countries are people who would be nobodies at home, but put them in a place where they have vastly more economic, social and political power than the locals, and they sadly feel entitled to sex with vulnerable women and children as part of the package.

I really dont have anything for this. Its fucking appauling.

That article is mind-boggling.

I don't know where to start really.

It's always the same old isn't it. Depressing.

Cruikshank, thanks for your post.