AIBU to cancel my direct debit to Oxfam?

[HermioneWeasley]

It’s been in the news today that in 2011 senior oxfam employees paid women in Haiti for sex when they were there after the earthquake. Footage was described as a “Caligula style orgy”. Oxfam dismissed some of them but covered it up. They admit it is not the first issue of sexual misconduct they’ve had.

I can’t give money to an organisation that exploits women and girls, or allows it to happen, but they do good work. What are others’ thoughts

I don't support any large charities now, there is too much money being made by those at the top. I volunteer and donate to a very small local charity - I'd find one in your area OP and do the same.

The abuse should never have happened - I don't think anyone would ever argue to the contrary. People working for charities know that everything they do comes under so much more scrutiny than people working for commercial organisations - there are so many threads on here moaning about charity salaries, volunteers, prices in charity shops.

But volunteering in the sector I know that 99.99% of workers and volunteers are doing it for the right reasons. All charities can do when they're made aware of the 0.01% is deal with it swiftly and effectively, whether that's a shop manager with their hand in the till, someone fiddling expenses or something a lot worse. This appears to be what's happened here.

I'm not an expert in employment law - can you go on record publicly through the press saying "we sacked Joe Bloggs because he was using prostitutes" if Joe Bloggs hasn't done anything illegal? Or does that leave you open to very expensive legal action against you by Joe? Also it's unclear the employment status of these people - one might have been employed by Oxfam UK, the others recruited locally and different law applies, it's all very complicated. And Oxfam have been clear that they had no evidence of criminality - people are saying the women may have been underage but there was no evidence about whether this was true or not. Police locally weren't involved.

I've also seen that since then there's a strong whistleblowing and safeguarding policy. We have posters up in the back shop where I volunteer encouraging volunteers and paid members of staff to report anything they're worried about to a central team rather than going through their manager. Anonymously if needed, and even if they're not affiliated to that particular charity - I could report on behalf of a relative, or friend. I appreciate that in the aftermath of a natural disaster this is going to be difficult, but changes have been made.

It would be such a shame if the amazing work the charity sector is doing across the world is thrown under the bus because of these men.

People working for charities know that everything they do comes under so much more scrutiny than people working for commercial organisations - there are so many threads on here moaning about charity salaries, volunteers, prices in charity shops.

That's not coming under more scrutiny, that is people highlighting issues with the Big charity organisations, they have moved away from their original ethos and become big business with all the tax avoidance and large board room salaries they (oxfam) despise.

It is widely accepted that Oxfam are not helping Kenya etc help themselves as they have practically destroyed their textile industry, and as for the whistleblowing well that's pretty laughable they have been brushing it under the carpet

twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/962096863070441473

Just because it is a charity, does not excuse it from being scrutinised whether that is for large salaries or claims of NGO's having orgies

@mercurymaze haha I knew someone who worked for them who was had awful views on homosexuality.

Oxfam are not my favourite charity but I agree with @k2p2k2tog . Any large charity working in countries with emergency situations and very different political set ups to that in the uk will have to deal with lots of unsavoury situations. Sadly sometimes they have to make less than ideal decisions to ensure they can continue to work in the country. The Haitian government may have objected to the bad press and then limited oxfams projects within the country meaning that lots of people did not get the help they needed. I don’t know if this was the case but it’s a common theme for lots of overseas aid projects.

If the OP does cancel donations I hope that they are made to another charity instead.

What concerns me beyond the unacceptable behaviour of Oxfam is that this may be used by UKIP, Jacob Rees-Mogg and others as yet another excuse to argue for reducing or ending overseas aid.

I am so appalled by this, op, I don't blame you.

Saw the news today that some of those allowed to resign left with positive references and went on to work in other aid agencies. Completely unacceptable. I’ve cancelled.

Small charities can suffer from well-meaning amateurism, leading to similar problems.

A family member tried to get involved with what was described as a trust providing one off support to local people. It turned out that they wanted her to visit people in their homes to find out what their needs were - no training, no vetting, no one else there. Apart from the risks to her, I felt it was really poor practice from a safeguarding point of view and I strongly discouraged her from getting involved.

Looks like Oxfam has been hit with another scandal

inews.co.uk/news/oxfam-hit-sex-scandal-claims/

The rumours before these revelations were about top donors being involved in underage orgies.

Guess we'll see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Thanks kitkatsky for recommending www.givewell.org - great that it highlights which are the best, most efficient charities to help.

"It’s been in the news today that in 2011 senior oxfam employees paid women in Haiti for sex when they were there after the earthquake"

According to the news report I watched this evening, it was also children Oxfam male employees paid for sex

Absolutely disgusting.

Yes, cancel. The fact so many people knew about this and covered it up just like the bbc did in the Saville case is criminal.

As others have said, they're all at it. Save the Children and everyone.

You'll get a certain percentage of people - men - who are attracted to working in places like that precisely because normal societal rules don't apply there and they know they can do what the fuck they want.

The ones who don't pay prostitutes outright will have "local girlfriends" who are to all intents and purposes long term escorts.

Small charities can be even worse as there are often minimal vetting procedures. I met one guy who had travelled to a war zone with a charity and went missing. Turned up later in the mujuhaddin.

It's not everyone, but every NGO has its share of misfits, perverts, rapists and weirdos.