Australian Aid Groups Vow To Examine Conduct As Uk Sector Battles Prostitution Scandal
Australian aid groups are vowing to put their conduct under a microscope after a prostitution scandal engulfed the sector in the United Kingdom.
Earlier this year the UK charity Oxfam was rocked by revelations that its staff members in Haiti had paid survivors of the devastating earthquake in 2010 to provide them with sex.
Now the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) has launched an independent review to unearth sexual abuse and misconduct in the local sector, and ensure that Australian aid groups working overseas aren’t fostering a rotten culture. More than 100 allegations over Australian aid
Child protection figures recently tabled by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade show that over the past decade there have been more than 100 allegations made against both charity workers and private contractors distributing Australian aid.
The ABC has been told they range from accusations of violence or sexual misconduct against children, to far less serious accusations, including negligence. Over the past eight years, 32 people working to distribute Australian aid have either been sacked, or resigned, because of their conduct towards children.
It’s not clear how many of those workers were fired because of sexual abuse or misconduct, but 10 of them were fired because they had committed a criminal offence. ACFID’s chief executive Marc Purcell said the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine would conduct the review, which would focus on what safeguards were in place to make sure recipients of Australian aid were not abused. “But we want to go beyond that and look at the culture within charities and ensure that we are doing everything we can to ensure there’s zero tolerance for sexual misconduct,” Mr Purcell said. ACFID will also open a phone line which aid workers or recipients can use to report sexual misconduct, or to seek counselling. Associate Professor David Wells from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine said he could not predict what the review would unearth — but it would be a complex and demanding task. “We’re very keen to get as much information as we can from people on the ground or people who might have witnessed this behaviour,” he said.
“We’ll go in with a very open mind and a willingness to explore these events as thoroughly as we can.”ABC