Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Oxfam chief: It’s not like we killed babies
Charity boss on scandal ‘overreaction’
OXFAM’S boss has hit back at the outcry over the Haiti misconduct scandal, saying aid workers had not “murdered babies in their cots”.
Mark Goldring claimed people were “gunning” for the charity over claims staff sexually exploited disaster victims.
It came as Oxfam last night halted bids for state aid funding, which boosted the charity by £32million last year.
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said it had “agreed to withdraw from bidding for new funding until the Department for International Development is satisfied they can meet the high standards we expect”.
DFID will make a further decision on February 26. Oxfam has been accused of concealing inquiry findings over claims staff used prostitutes in Haiti in 2011. Mr Goldring said nine staff behaved unacceptably and he was “deeply ashamed”.
He added: “The intensity and ferocity of the attack makes you wonder, what did we do? Murder babies in their cots?
“Certainly, the scale and the intensity of the attacks feels out of proportion. What I’m really concerned about is this is not used as an approach to attack aid.”
Oxfam’s ex-haiti director Roland Van Hauwermeiren has admitted “intimate relations” with a woman in the country.
Mr Goldring went on: “Why are they doorstepping me instead of him? People are gunning for Oxfam, not him.” Winnie Byanyim, Oxfam International’s chief, promised justice for victims. The charity also vowed to publish its 2011 probe.
Scotland’s charity regulator dealt with 15 cases of alleged sexual misconduct in the past two years. And ex-unicef consultant Peter Newell, 77, of Wood Green, North London was last month jailed for raping a boy of 12 in the 1960s. Unicef said it had not known of his crime.