Haiti suspends Oxfam GB after sex scandal
PORT-AU-PRINCE: Saying it was “shocked at the highest level”, the government of Haiti has suspended the aid group Oxfam Great Britain for two months while it investigates allegations of sexual misconduct by charity employees in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake.
The government took the step two weeks after the organisation, the British arm of the umbrella group Oxfam International, acknowledged that employees had been fired or resigned after they were found to have had sex parties with prostitutes in staff housing.
On Thursday, the Haitian minister of planning and external cooperation, Aviol Fleurant, said officials were looking into the incidents and trying to determine whether any of the sex workers were underage.
The government raised the prospect that the British aid organization, which spends US$3.9 million annually in Haiti, may not be allowed to resume its work. Mr Fleurant said if investigators establish a link between donations to Oxfam meant for Haiti and criminal activity, officials will “declare Oxfam Great Britain persona non grata, and they would have to leave the country without further delay”.
It was unclear whether the Haitian government, which relies heavily on nonprofit organisations to fulfill basic functions such as running schools and hospitals, would expand the investigation to cover other aid groups.
Oxfam International said in a statement on Thursday that it “was committed to cooperate with their investigation”.
Three other Oxfam groups — from Italy, Spain and Quebec — are continuing to work in Haiti. And Oxfam International’s regional director, Simon Ticehurst, said that because of an attempt by the umbrella group to streamline its operations, Oxfam Great Britain had no staff left in Haiti, in any case.
The group has come under extreme fire since The Times British newspaper reported the charity had let seven staff members go after an internal investigation confirmed the activity with prostitutes at Oxfam residences in the Port-au-Prince area. More broadly, the humanitarian aid profession as a whole has been forced to do deep soul-searching.
Ticehurst said some 750,000 Haitians have been helped by Oxfam, and he expressed concern about the longterm effects of the scandal, including on fundraising. “This will have an impact on the whole organisation,” he said.
In Britain, the government has begun an investigation and halted funding to Oxfam, one of the country’s largest charities. The group’s deputy chief executive stepped down after revelations that Oxfam workers in Chad had engaged in similar behaviour in 2006.