To not be shocked, just deeply saddened, by the Oxfam revelations

[beluga425]

There seems to be such an obvious power imbalance that I'd expect the NGO world to attract the types of people who might exploit people.

That is not to say that this would apply to everyone and I'm sure the vast majority of people working for Oxfam and other such organisations are there to do good and have the best of intentions.

[beluga425]

Loads of western people doing fairly low level work for charities abroad live in beautiful houses with servants.

[Viviennemary]

The whole charity thing wouldn't really bear up to being closely examined. Oxfam with a fancy villa with pool. Not exactly what they advertise on TV as to where people's donations are going. Don't think I'll be donating much to them in future. Though I did quite like them as large charities go.

[user764329056]

Chaos, you’re right. What I learned from working in the sector is how costs are disguised so looking at published figures is a nonsense and laughable, money is easily attributed to all sorts of worthy headings when it’s actually going into the pockets and lifestyles of employees, it’s shameful and I left a lengthy career because of the duplicity and hypocrisy, when you see it from the inside it’s soul destroying

[isitfridayyet1]

The sad fact is this hasnt just affected Oxfams reputation but the sector in general as what's to say others aren't doing the same and that's a shame really. I do often wonder though why there are so many charities doing the same thing, rather than pooling resources and thus reducing admin and advertising costs. I really feel charity work has turned into a business and this has led to a growth in corruption and other unsavoury behaviour

[RoseWhiteTips]

Oxfam is tarnished. For shame.

[Teenageromance]

I think you will find they didn’t deal with it properly - there is an interview on channel 4 with the former head of safeguarding (can’t link as on phone but on you tube) for Oxfam which shows quite clearly that they knew about it. But did nothing.
This isn’t the same as the scenarios you mentioned. This is exploitation of women and children when they are at the pits of dispair in a disaster zone. And they are doing this with money that we have donated through giving or taxes. No way will I be donating a penny to them and I hope the government withdraws funding. I think there will be more stories of abuse and wastage of money to come out in the coming weeks.

[weeblefeeble]

Teenageromance - totally understandable that you don't want a penny of your money to support this kind of thing. Problem is, that means you probably can't spend any money anywhere if you don't want it to ever fund that kind of behaviour - can't buy petrol, or use banks that operate internationally, or buy any food or drink that's imported. Or even agree to pay the British army through your taxes... (a member of the navy once told me that he knew the price of prostitute in every port he'd visited). There are horrible grotty men in every sector who work internationally and who use the overseas lifestyle to exploit poor women. There aren't more in aid work than in any other sector (from my own experience, I would probably guess proportionally less).

I know it seems a lot more shocking because there organisations are supposed to be doing pure good - and I think it's a really really good thing that this issue is being highlighted because it needs to be properly addressed and not treated as just a fact of life. And the aid sector should be absolutely at the forefront of stamping it out. But the laser focus on Oxfam really isn't fair. [FWIW it's worth I don't even think they dealt with it all that badly at the time - sacked a bunch of people, others resigned before the investigation into their conduct was over (can't really see how you can prevent someone from resigning, and most organisations can't legitimately sack someone before they've completed an investigation), didn't give them references, reported it to the charity commission.]

And it will be a crying crying shame if the tabloid feeding frenzy means this ends up destroying a great deal of good work, and ultimately adding to the sum of human misery rather than reducing it.

[SenoritaViva]

My dad worked for a prominent charity. He quit (in the nineties) when he found (and was anti) people buying designer sunglasses to expenses. I've only ever supported small and (what I can see) accountable expenses.

[judgejudyandexecutioner]

I was told "for my own safety" that I shouldn't talk about it...

[Teenageromance]

Which one judge?

[Riverside2]

Oxfam out chugging today in Central London

I'm sure they had some difficult conversations, but yet another reason why I don't donate to large charities....

[judgejudyandexecutioner]

I was not shocked I have worked for a number of charities and believe me they have all been pretty ruthless in their dealings. I was a whistleblower at one and I received nothing but threats and intimidation and was told that if I persisted in whistleblowing I could "kiss my career with them goodbye".

Charities talk a good game but no one wants a whistleblower 😢

[Teenageromance]

The thing is though that I don’t want even one penny of money I donate to have supported something like this. It doesn’t matter to me that there are great people working there. If I donate some of my money could be supporting this abuse. And it was known about and covered up - so how can we trust them to police this in the future. Listen to the interview on channel 4 with the former head of safeguarding who warned them since 2015. So I will no longer give cash or buy from Oxfam shops.

[Viviennemary]

It's awful but I can't say I'm shocked. There are bad people everywhere. Sometimes they are found out and quite often they're not and get away with it. I've always had misgivings about who these big money charities are actually run for. The obscenely highly paid executives and hangers on or the actually people in need.

[LizzieSiddal]

Ivebeen you sound so compassionate

I’m shocked by these revelations. It hadn’t crossed my mind that this kind of thing would go on. I’ve decided I’m too naive. What I do know is that sex seems to be on a lot of people’s minds a lot of the time. Why cant these people keep it in their pants?

[MiddlingMum]

The people I know who work for Oxfam are shocked and deeply upset. They are people with a huge amount of integrity, and are concerned that the people they support abroad will suffer.

I believe that there are far more good people working for Oxfam than there are bad people. I will still support them.

[Ivebeenaroundtheblock]

I don’t think any organizations should help anyone anymore. If a country can’t figure out how to deal with their own climate and geography why should someone else from somewhere else.
Cuba seems to have figured out how to build and prepare for hurricanes with little outside intervention.
The idea that others can help is rather patriarchal.

[PerkingFaintly]

Don't kid yourself this is restricted to charities, NGOs and journalists, though. We can't solve this by simply withdrawing the NGOs: the vulnerabilities which attracted sexual abusers continue to attract sexual abusers.

Women and children at the Calais camps were being raped by human traffickers, and it's feared thousands of child refugees are in the hands of sex traffickers.

www.cfr.org/blog/sex-trafficking-and-refugee-crisis-exploiting-vulnerable

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/unicef-says-calais-and-dunkirk-unaccompanied-children-refugees-subjected-to-sex-abuse-violence-and-forced-labour-daily_uk_57625edde4b08b9e3abda0b3

[PerkingFaintly]

Basically I agree with the OP.

[InsomniacAnonymous]

"I seriously think it’s time that agencies that send people to work on the ground should only use biological women."

Haven't you read the thread? Women aid workers have been exploiting people for sex too! In fact it was well-publicised that it had gone on in the Calais jungle.

[GirlsBlouse17]

Chaos 97% admin is a ridiculous figure to quote. No idea where you got that figure from but it is dangerous because it is comments like that that stop people donating. If it was 97%, the Charity Commission would have been on its case about that a long time ago

[Amortentia]

• can we not have one thread that doesn’t end up with someone touting their anti trans agenda....?
  
  This thread is to do with the conduct of charities, nothing to do with “non biological” anything.*
  
  Well so far charities run by women such as Women’s Aid and Rape crisis have managed to avoid being caught systematically abusing those they seek to help. That’s not anti-trans, it’s an acknowledgement that the culture and behaviour in women’s organisations is different from those predominantly led my males.

[GirlsBlouse17]

It saddens me that this has become such a major storyline on the BBC each day because the ones who will suffer because of the resulting reduction in funding are the vulnerable people in the poor countries.

An issue that could bring Oxfam down has been brought about by a minority of rogue workers when the majority do an amazing job of trying to relieve poverty and suffering around the world. Oxfam has failed to address the issue but now is having to take steps to review it's systems to deal with this in future. There will always be rogue workers in any organisation but if Oxfam is doing it's best now to sort this out, then please keep the funding and donations coming in as it is important Oxfam continues its good work around the world.

[PerkingFaintly]

A lot of this stuff has been reasonably well reported over the years if you've been looking in the right places.

The UK's suddenly decided to give a shit: better late than never.

I was an aid worker in Haiti. The appetite for debauchery was shocking
www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/feb/13/aid-worker-haiti-quake-debauchery-shocking

Aid workers and sexual violence: survivors speak out
www.theguardian.com/working-in-development/2017/nov/13/forced-to-have-oral-sex-with-a-colleague-aid-workers-speak-out-on-assault-harassment

UN peacekeepers in South Sudan 'ignored rape and assault of aid workers'
www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/15/south-sudan-aid-worker-rape-attack-united-nations-un

[AntArcticFox]

It wasn't "covering" sexual abuse. It contained casual reference to a pretty amoral lifestyle.