Oxfam alleged prostitution cover-up

[HairyBallTheorem]

BBC article here

I read the Times article in the print version at lunch - front page lead article, plus two inside pages devoted to it, so if anyone could link with a share token this would be great.

It's about a group of men, senior in Oxfam's Haiti relief programme, having parties with prostitutes (some of whom may well have been under the age of consent). Someone blew the whistle, and the men were removed from Oxfam, but mostly through being paid off rather than sacked. The Times alleges Oxfam then systematically covered up the abuse so as not to cause ructions among the general public whose donations they rely on.

I know there have been other threads in the past, including posts from women who've worked for NGOs saying it's absolutely endemic. (About the only two names which pop up as not being involved and having decent policies against aid workers sexually abusing the vulnerable women and children they're meant to be helping are Christian Aid and MSF).

Does anyone have any thoughts on any sort of campaigning that could be done to get charities to clean up their act.

Anyfucker - in this context it IS worth looking at the wider circumstances of that corruption, unlikely that anyone here is going to deny what you said as being the most significant root cause?

These huge organisations are enabling it in areas where the vulnerability of the population is not just a factor to be considered but the ENTIRE reason for them being there in the first place. How is it that the facilitation of the use of sex workers is not enforced under gross misconduct? Why is it brushed under the carpet rather than personnel being summarily dismissed for participating in it or enabling it as they would be for misappropriated funds or violence in the workplace?

There are enough in the way of initiatives aimed at commercial sector workers in developing countries being warned about exploitation of child sex workers and the potential legal penalties - NGOs do seem to enjoy holding the moral high ground and perhaps this is why the scramble to protect their reputation and the knock on effects to funding are why this is occurring. I would suggest that's the wider context.

Oxfam allowed staff to resign to avoid damaging the charity’s reputation

Funny that. Because I will never ever donate to them again. If they’d rooted it out and dragged these abusers over hot coals it’d have shown they still have a whiff of morality.

It’s endemic. Power, abuse, sexual violence. A significant proportion of the population have no moral restraint whatsoever. I despair for our species.

I've known about this for some time now and I've never donated to Oxfam again. Feel ashamed about having donated in the past.

Share the thoughts of all of you, with the obvious exception.

It beggars belief that if men can abuse women and children they will. We don't want to accept that this is true in our society.

Yet this is clear evidence that it is indeed true and we need to WAKE UP!!

Yes even the "saviours" will prostitute women and children, because they want to and because they can.

Fuck off with your "women do it too". This is about male entitlement, not the fact that persons of any sex can be corrupt

Seconded. This, along with so many other recent news stories, has enraged me so much I never want to get involved in a relationship with another male, frankly.

You can say 'not all men' as much as you like, but I'm coming to the conclusion that most men have beliefs (whether overt or buried more deeply in their subconscious) that are fundamentally incompatible with the interests of women. Germaine Greer was spot on when she said that women don't realise just how much much hate them. I used to laugh at some of Andrea Dworkin's ideas for being too extreme - I'm not fucking laughing now.

YY to Anyfucker.

The occasional woman gets involved, yes, but that does not alter the fact that the power structure and culture which enables and excuses this, prevents the perpetrators being brought to justice and covers up the whole shitstorm is rooted in a deeply sexist society which excuses male sexual violence as "just blokes away from their families desperate for a shag because men have needs and prostitutes choose to make money that way..."

I think charities are bound to attract people who predatory because they provide such a good cover Jimmy Savile for example.

I saw another article in the Times this morning attempting to justify the decision. It said that they were afraid of local staff on the ground being attacked if the information came out but they still kept him on for a month after that.

Then he was provided with positive references so he then went on to

^become head of mission for Action Against Hunger in Bangladesh in 2014-16. The French charity made pre-employment checks but said that Oxfam “did not share with us any warning regarding [his] unethical conduct, the reasons of his resignation or the results of internal inquiry”.

A spokesman said: “Moreover, we received positive references from former Oxfam staff who worked with him, among them a [former] HR person.”^

It's utterly damming isn't it? It makes a mockery of their protecting staff when they're just covering up so he can abuse others elsewhere.

Given that we know that those who liberated Nazi camps abused women in these ways, I'm not sure why anyone is shocked that it still continues.

However, it's always fabulous to see that someone felt it necessary to add a touch of "women do it tooooooo" into the mix, like that means that the fact that in it almost exclusively males who are doing this doesn't really matter.

The sexual abuse and cover-up is shocking enough. Added to that, the thing that has really shocked me is men on the left attacking media outlets covering this utter scandal. Apparently the BBC and the press are being their normal Tory selves while Oxfam hasn't actually done anything wrong (it was individuals) and needs to be supported because it spoke out against Davos and global capitalism.

At the moment, I'm seeing the left cheerfully taking the side against women, including abused women, in so many contexts.

I have actually seen men today suggest that it was "empowering" for the women and children involved. And muttering about the oldest profession. Which is weird really, because I wasn't aware that sexist, abusive shit blokes needed midwives...

I have to admit that I had no idea of the scale of abuse by so called "aid" workers. Yes, I knew about the UN scandal, but assumed it was a rare occurrence. My feeling now is to pull the plug on donating to any major charity organisation, and to concentrate on local ones like " Help the Aged" or The Salvation Army" who are doing good work for our own vulnerable people here in my town
I will continue to maintain my standing order for Macmillan however.
And I will not set foot in the Oxfam shop, or donate anything to them until their organisation can prove that they've cleaned up their act.
I am almost in shock here, and feel foolish for trusting that someone like Oxfam had a shred of dignity/ decency.

xenophile what's the betting the brocialists defending the idea that underage female children in a disaster zone being forced into prostitution (aka child rape) because they're desperate for food and shelter is "empowering" are themselves users of prostitutes?

Sadly HairyBallTheorem I have come to the conclusion that large numbers of brocialists who defend all manner of abuses against women and girls are either as you say, consumers of whatever abuse it is we're discussing or simply misogynists, red in tooth and claw. The longer I talk to these men, the more entrenched that belief has become, to the extent that I am now pleasantly surprised when I come across a man who isn't one of those.

At least with your old fashioned, dyed in the wool, right leaning misogynist you expect it. It's always somehow worse coming from right-on men and women.

Yuck. I'm with roomba

The left’s response to this, plus their championing of TRAs is actually making me reconsider my core politics.

I consider myself left wing in that I’m a strong believer in fairness for all, equality of opportunity, a good safety net etc. I thought that was the core of being slightly left. Trade unions, a strong welfare state, feminism, generally being decent and not shogun any one group under the bus in the face of either corporate greed or hatred.
But right now I’m afraid every time I read the Guardian or similar I’m feeling quite ill. Religious men are not to be offended so women, you’re going to lose some of your rights. These men think they are women so women, we will have some more of those rights.

It’s making me question what I really believe in and stand for, because right now he left are not only not speaking for me, they are actively campaigning for something that will harm half the population.

This is not just an issue with men

Yes it is.

Those who spent younger years in countries where aid workers would be from time to time know very well THE MEN WERE THE ABUSERS. MALE AID WORKERS. MALE PRIESTS.

Is that clear enough? It was men that had to be avoided. Men that your mother would warn you about "dont forget, take the other way home".

I think about the poorer women in ghetto areas, and those men who played on their poverty knowing a desperate woman would give herself, or her daughter.

I do not believe all the women aid workers are unaware. No way. But that's a separate conversation to be had regarding what it takes to close eyes to wrongdoing. To not rock the boat.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/oxfam-prostitution-charity-aid-workers-haiti-un-peacekeepers-a8206646.html

Outcome of today's talks between Oxfam and government is that the deputy CEO has resigned. The CEO stays in place, but it seems he wasn't in post at the time of the events in Haiti.

This all makes me want to weep with rage and fury.

Did anyone hear 'thought for the day' this morning? Apparently having a go a big charities only hurts the vulnerable people they're helping and 'let he is who without sin cast the first stone'.
I stopped brushing my teeth and stared at the radio in horror. WTF?

What the actual fuck BeUp - I'd have been close to crashing the car if I'd heard that.

Would people say the same about abuses carried out by the church? After all, they do a lot to help people as well so what's the matter with a little bit of a child abuse? Ugh actually I'm sure that point of view isn't too hard to find either - how depressing.

'Apparently having a go a big charities only hurts the vulnerable people they're helping and 'let he is who without sin cast the first stone'. shock'

Well I've heard some sanctimonious shite in my time but that really is quite something

Phlap, you are spot on, we may know each other, sounds like you are from the sector too, I just hope this leads to honest investigation of everything to do with corporate charities, I had to leave after a lengthy career as I was so disillusioned with all I saw and it was such a huge beast I couldn’t try to take it on

I’m absolutely disgusted and still reeling to be honest. The sheer fucking span of these disgusting atrocities committed BY MEN under the umbrella of being right on kind and helpful lefty bros. I’m horrified. Those poor women and children, no fucking avenue left to turn down, no options left. And fucking Oxfam can fuck right off. None of these big corporate “charities” will see a penny from me. I’m just RAGING.

This is not just an issue with men. I know of several female charity workers doing the same - it is more to do with an abuse of power of those who have access to funds and those who don’t

I don't believe that.