"It's not as if we murdered babies in their cots" - Oxfam

[JaimesGoldenHand]

Apparently the Oxfam CEO thinks the reaction to the Aid Worker rape and use of prostitutes and the subsequent apparent cover-up has been disproportionate. It happens in all aid agencies so why the fuss.

I was in two minds as to whether to boycott Oxfam but this has decided me. I feel physically sick.

The report reads like a summary rather than a full investigation. There is no real analysis of the circumstances, and it does not deal with the culture within the organisation in Haiti that allowed such behaviour to go unchecked.

@Riverside2

so there's no law about how long to keep disciplinary notes?

interesting

No, quite the opposite, you are not allowed to keep data unless it is current and relevant. (Data Protection Act)

Most disciplinary sanctions (except dismissal, obviously) only last a year (depends on policy, but using the ACAS Code) and after that they must be disregarded, the best way to disregard them is to destroy them. I am only aware of one piece of case law where old disciplinary information was taken into account and used to partly justify dismissal and was upheld in tribunal. It was a very unusual case and, while the judges decided it was acceptable, they were also very clear it cannot be translated to other situations.

There are other exceptions but all are very specific.

I haven't been following the Oxfam scandal. What's wrong with guys paying for prostitutes I thought that's what guys did?

superhamster They weren't prostitutes. They were women and underage children.

What's wrong with guys paying for prostitutes I thought that's what guys did?

I don't think ALL guys do. There are certainly issues, as outlined above, where people are sent somewhere to assist in a disaster to provide aid, when they then use their power to procure services.

There are a lot of potential issues in this case. If, as has been suggested, prostitution is illegal in Haiti, then that's one thing and the easiest one to address.
If, as has also been suggested, some of the sex workers were not adults, that is also straightforward to deal with.
If both those above are true then it's bewildering why the employer did not inform the police, let alone cover up an internal investigation.

If it is not illegal and all the people involved were adults, it's harder for the employer to address. But there is more going on around it - was aid being withheld? Were other staff threatened (to ensure their involvement and to prevent them giving evidence)? Seems there was also an issue of porn on employer PCs - probably policies against that. And that sex took place on the employer premises.

The CEO and Chair are at the International Development Agency today to answer questions. Interestingly, the CEO (subject of this thread and non-murderer of babies, by his own statement) is being investigated internally for his handling of another issue.

What's wrong with guys paying for prostitutes I thought that's what guys did?

What's wrong with it?

There is a power imbalance between the rich, white Oxfam dudes and the women and children living in disaster areas - women and children who are poor, desperate, and have possibly lost everything.

Oxfam were supposed to be there to help them - not to make them earn money, food, nappies, baby milk by fucking them.

Superhamster, what's the point of posting if you know sweet FA about what's under discussion?

SeniorRita, thanks for the clarification.

SeniorRita I think that to think sex wasn't traded for aid is naive.
Even if it isn't explicitly stated, there is no consensual relationship between s rich man giving food and shelter and the young women and girls from recipient families.
If an aid worker turns up with supplies and then says he'd like to have sex with the teenage girl he's talking to she is unlikely to see this as optional.
He might believe that he has not raped her, but he has.

SeniorRita I think that to think sex wasn't traded for aid is naive.

I didn't make any comment either way.

If an aid worker turns up with supplies and then says he'd like to have sex with the teenage girl he's talking to she is unlikely to see this as optional.
He might believe that he has not raped her, but he has.

Have you seen evidence of this then, or are you just making up stories?

What's wrong with guys paying for prostitutes I thought that's what guys did?
When men assume that all women and children are potential prostitutes, and pass laws legalizing prostitution, then all sexual intercourse is assumed to be consensual. Conflict is dismissed as a hesaid/shesaid impossible to adjudicate so no charges filed.
Proponents even have a name for it. "Survival sex."

SeniorRita Thats not made up, and its not just a hypothetical; its an example of the behaviour thats been reported. The girls were 13.

What's wrong with guys paying for prostitutes I thought that's what guys did?

Because it's a disgusting abuse of power at the best of times. And more so when the women and children being prostituted are a) traumatised and destitute because theyve just survived a major disaster and b) dependent on those prostituting them for the well-being and perhaps continued survival of their families.