Experts claim abusers exploit aid sector by posing as peacekeepers

Sexual predators are posing as UN peacekeepers to carry out abuse, a UK inquiry was told.

The investigation into abuse by aid workers began in July, with charities under intense scrutiny since reports in 2018 that Oxfam staff used prostitutes in Haiti while responding to the 2010 earthquake.

Experts told the UK government’s International Development Committee that aid agencies were still behaving as though they were above the law.

While giving evidence at the inquiry, experts called on nations to withhold funding from agencies facing accusations of abuse unless action was taken to stop it.

Andrew MacLeod, a visiting professor at King’s College London and co-founder of the Hear Their Cries charity, told the inquiry that predators were exploiting the aid sector because they believed they could get away with it.

“It is a systematic problem and until a game-changing response is made, nothing will change,” he said.

“There needs to be an academic study into the unreported sex abuse in the aid sector and how big it is.

“If there is a sexual assault claim, 100 per cent of funding should be withdrawn. Unless that is done, nothing will change.

“We will be back here in five, 10, 20 years dealing with this as the UN and NGOs believe they are beyond the law.”

He said people needed to be protected after they spoke out about abuse.

“The main problem we have is just a sense of impunity. There is no whistle-blower protection that is in anyway meaningful,” he said.

“The system is set up to punish whistle-blowers and shame victims to protect the reputations of agencies before the reputation of victims.”

The inquiry is considering what progress has been made to protect people from being sexually exploited or abused by aid workers since a report was published in 2018.

“The fact that this inquiry is the third piece of work the committee will have undertaken on sexual exploitation and abuse in two years tells me that this issue continues to rumble on as no one is prepared to challenge the culture that perpetuates it,” committee chairwoman Sarah Champion said.

Experts are calling on nations to halt funding unless aid agencies deal with abuse allegations