Actress withdraws her support from Oxfam over Haiti scandal
Minnie Driver, the British actress, has withdrawn her support from Oxfam after allegations the charity tried to cover up the use of prostitutes by its staff in Haiti.
Driver, who is best known for starring in the 1997 film Good
Will Hunting, said she had been “horrified” by the claims and would be stepping down as a celebrity ambassador after 20 years with the charity.
“All I can tell you about this awful revelation about Oxfam is that I am devastated,” the 48-year-old said on Twitter.
“Devastated for the women who were used by people sent there to help them, devastated by the response of an organisation that I have been raising awareness for since I was nine years old #oxfamscandal.”
Driver, who had travelled to Cambodia and Thailand with the charity, said she would continue to fight against economic and social injustice.
Responding to the announcement, a spokesperson for Oxfam said: “Her decision to step down as an Oxfam ambassador saddens us deeply, but we also understand and respect her choice.”
Driver is the first celebrity to leave the international charity, which has its headquarters in Oxford, UK, since an investigation by a British newspaper revealed senior Oxfam staff had paid prostitutes for sex in earthquake-hit Haiti in 2011.
The UK’s charity watchdog has launched an inquiry to look into claims by The Times that Oxfam tried to cover up the findings of an internal investigation that found that aid workers had held sex parties with girls during the humanitarian relief mission.
One of the aid workers who admitted using prostitutes while working in Haiti was Oxfam’s country director, Roland van Hauwermeiren.
On Tuesday, a former colleague of Mr van Hauwermeiren said that he had been sent home from a mission with another British charity for using prostitutes in Liberia.
The charity commission is investigating claims that he was able to get a job with Oxfam two years after being dismissed from health charity Merlin. On Monday, Penny Lawrence, Oxfam’s deputy chief executive, resigned over the scandal, saying she took full responsibility for what had happened under her watch while apologising for the “harm and distress” caused.
Oxfam now faces a struggle to prevent other high-profile ambassadors from stepping down as well as making sure the British government does not withdraw the £32 million (Dh163m) of funding it provides.
Britain’s International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, is scheduled to meet investigators from the National Crime Agency to discuss the scandal.
“While investigations have to be completed and any potential criminals prosecuted accordingly, what is clear is that the culture that allowed this to happen needs to change now,” she said yesterday at a child-protection summit in Stockholm, Sweden.
One of the aid workers who admitted using prostitutes was Roland van Hauwermeiren, the country director for Haiti