Oxfam panel will review practices in charity

BRITISH aid organisation Oxfam said today that it would create an independent commission to review the charity's practices and culture after accusations of sexual misconduct in Haiti.

The Times newspaper reported last week that some Oxfam staff had paid for sex with prostitutes in Haiti after the country's 2010 earthquake.

Oxfam, one of the world's biggest disaster relief charities, has neither confirmed nor denied that specific account, but has said an internal investigation in 2011 confirmed sexual misconduct occurred, and it has apologised.

Oxfam said in a statement that its “High-Level Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Accountability and Culture Change” would comprise women's rights experts who would have access to Oxfam records and staff, partners and communities it supports.

It said it would create "a global database of accredited referees to end the use of forged, dishonest or unreliable references by past or current Oxfam staff" and that it would invest in resources in its safeguarding processes.

The organisation will triple funding to more than $1 million (€800,000) to improve safeguarding, while also doubling the number of staff in this area and increasing investment in gender training.

Oxfam said it was committed to publishing a 2011 internal investigation "into staff involved in sexual and other misconduct in Haiti as soon as possible, after taking steps necessary to protect the identity of innocent witnesses," adding that the "names of the men involved have already been shared with the authorities in Haiti."

International development secretary Penny Mordaunt said on Wednesday (14) that Britain would stop funding overseas aid agencies if they failed to learn from Oxfam's sex abuse scandal.

Oxfam's international executive director Winnie Byanyima said in the statement, "What happened in Haiti and afterwards is a stain on Oxfam that will shame us for years, and rightly so. In my language 'Okuruga ahamutima gwangye, mutusaasire.' It means "From the bottom of my heart I am asking for forgiveness.'"

"We are going to create a vetting system," Byanyima told the BBC.

"I'm really inviting anyone who has been a victim of abuse by anyone in our organisation to come forward."

The charity admitted yesterday (15) it rehired one of those sacked in Haiti just months later and is now checking whether any complaints were subsequently made.

Gurpreet Singh worked as a consultant in Ethiopia from October to December 2011, a decision Oxfam said was "a serious error and should never have happened".

The charity today said it was also investigating allegations of sexual misconduct at a hotel in the Philippines after a destructive typhoon in 2013.

Oxfam's regional director for Asia Lan Mercado earlier this week told the BBC she was aware of cases of sexual abuse involving staff in Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines between 2009 and 2013.

(Agencies)