IRISH SHOCK AT CHARITY’S SEX FOR FOOD SCAM
Quake survivors told: for aid, pay or sleep with us
A CHARITY supported by Meghan Markle and Game Of Thrones star Liam Cunningham has admitted its workers traded food and cash for sex with survivors of the devastating 2010 earthquake on Haiti.
The revelations – brought to the attention of the Irish Mail on Sunday by a former World Vision worker – will fuel concern over abuses by aid workers following the scandal over the use of prostitutes by Oxfam officials, also in Haiti.
The confession, by World Vision Global, will dismay supporters, including Prince Harry’s fiancée, who was a global
ambassador for the charity until last year. Desperate survivors of the disaster were forced, by paid employees of World Vision, to have sex or pay money to get aid from the World Food Programme (WFP).
Meanwhile, Irish aid charities have admitted that between two and three Irish aid workers a year have been accused of sexual misconduct.
The sordid World Vision reports emerged after the WFP – set up by the United Nations to distribute food in emergencies – ordered an outside evaluation of the ‘cash and food for work projects’, run by its partners in September 2011.
Under these schemes, agencies gave people about €2.50 a day to clear rubble, dig ditches, sweep streets and clean toilets in camps, after the earthquake. The investigation singled out criticism of World Vision projects, including ‘concerns about various forms of exploitation of beneficiaries, fraud, nepotism and inaccurate records’, internal email stated.
After meetings with WFP officials, the charity ordered a ‘Beneficiary Processes Evaluation’, completed in May 2012. This confirmed that people receiving aid, selected by local community leaders, were ‘subject to a level of sexual and financial exploitation’. The charity admits some of those making selections were paid ‘temporarily’, but says none were formal employees.
Its annual Accountability Report stated: ‘Camp residents were allegedly subject to both sexual and financial exploitation to be included on beneficiary lists. At the same time, corruption and manipulation of the lists for personal gain was a reported problem.’
A WFP spokeswoman confirmed they discovered ‘worrying irregularities’ and told World Vision to tighten controls. World Vision was the only partner identified to be linked to this sale of cash and food for work projects, she said, although the charity’s own reports indicate others were involved.
World Vision said the allegations were taken ‘extremely seriously’, leading to strengthening of its internal systems, and said Haitian authorities were informed where there was evidence of abuse.
The news came as a shock to supporters of the charity in Ireland.
Liam Cunningham said he was not an ambassador or involved with World Vision at that time but that the victims’ were ‘the worst suffering among us and the money should go to them.’ He added: ‘I will have to talk to World Vision. If this involves individuals, they should be removed and if it’s systemic, well that needs to be investigated also. To exploit the people in worst need is really just appalling.’
Others closely associated with World Vision are model Roz Purcell and former TV presenter Lorraine Keane. Both declined to comment last night.
Ms Keane directed the MoS to a spokeswoman for World Vision Ireland, who last night said the charity was not in a position to comment, as it did not know enough.
In 2010, €200,000 of Irish government funding went to World Vision Ireland’s Haiti Earthquake appeal. In the same year, €2,428,775 in Government grants went to World Vision Ireland. From September 2009 to September 2016, World Vision received €24,606,841 of Irish State aid.
An MoS survey of Irish aid groups revealed at least 20 cases of sexual allegations at five agencies, while others refused to be transparent.
Two of the largest agencies, Concern and Goal, have had at least 18 sexual allegations against workers in the past 10 years. Concern said it had dismissed three or four staff following investigations and had ‘an average of one to two reports of sexual misconduct per year’.
Goal has told the MoS that it had an average of one case in each of the eight years since 2010.
Both charities insisted the cases were dealt with appropriately and that local authorities had been contacted as required.
While Oxfam international has been at the centre of a scandal about foreign aid workers having sex with prostitutes in Haiti, the MoS has learned that its Irish subsidiary, Oxfam Ireland, also dismissed a staff member following a safeguarding issue in 2004.
Two other Irish charities, Christian Aid and Trócaire, have also had sexual misconduct issues.
Christian Aid, which provides aid in more than 50 countries, has investigated two incidents of sexual misconduct overseas in the past 12 months. Trócaire reported one incident in 2016. Plan International Ireland refused to say, when asked by the MoS, how many safeguarding cases were brought against its overseas staff members.
However, the charity did confirm that it had dealt with incidents in the past.
‘If it is systemic, it needs to be investigated’