Oxfam boss apologizes to MPS over abuse of Haiti quake victims
Mark Goldring, the head of Oxfam, apologized to MPS for the actions of staff who sexually exploited female victims of the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
He acknowledged that the charity’s actions had damaged the whole aid community, as well as the people of Haiti. Goldring told the Commons international development committee that 7,000 people had canceled their donations since the scandal broke, theguardian.com reported.
He also apologized for his own comments that appeared to downplay the seriousness of the scandal. In an interview last week in the Guardian, Goldring said the charity was being attacked as if “babies had been murdered in their cots”.
Asked about his comments, which led to calls for his resignation, the Oxfam executive said: “I do apologize. I was under stress. I’d given many interviews, I’d made many decisions to try to lead Oxfam’s response to this. I was thinking about amazing work I’ve seen Oxfam do around the world, most recently with refugees coming from Myanmar.”
He said it was wrong of him to talk about how he had not slept for six days, or make a comparison between what he was going through and what people in Haiti had suffered.
“I should not have said those things. It is not for Oxfam to judge issues of proportionality or motivation. I repeat Oxfam’s apology and my personal apology. I am, we are, sorry for the damage Oxfam has done both to the people of Haiti but also to the wider efforts for aid and development by possibly undermining public support.
“I wholeheartedly apologize for those comments and commit to work in that greater public interest so that Oxfam can make a powerful role in the world that we all believe in.”
Goldring, who took up his post in 2013, said Roland van Hauwermeiren, who was forced to resign as a result of the Haiti scandal, should not have been allowed to resign. The charity, which did not supply a reference when asked for one by another charity, should have been more proactive in warning them, he said. “We should have said, please call us, there’s cause for concern.” The scandal has raised concerns about charity staff who have been dismissed for serious misconduct being able to move to other charities.
Asked how many further revelations had come to his notice since reports of the Haiti scandal emerged two weeks ago, Golding said there had been 26 reports, 16 of which related to international programs.
“Across Oxfam Great Britain we have had about 26 stories, reports come to us which were either new reports come out as a result of the stories, or earlier stories where people said, ‘I didn’t necessarily report this at the time’. Over an extended period of time. I am not talking about recent cases.
“We really want people to come forward wherever they are and whenever this happened. Some of those cases relate to the UK, some of them relate to our international program.”