Haiti president urges probe of other NGOs for misconduct

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Haiti's president said on Friday that sexual misconduct by staff of British charity Oxfam was only the tip of an "iceberg" and called for investigations into Doctors Without Borders and other aid organizations which came to the country after its 2010 earthquake.

"The Oxfam case is the visible part of the iceberg," President Jovenel Moise said in a phone interview with Reuters on Friday. "It is not only Oxfam, there are other NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in the same situation, but they hide the information internally."

The remarks came as the head of Oxfam hit back at criticism over the scandal that he said was “out of proportion” while the British charity agreed not to bid for more government funds until it cleans up its act.

The scandal has already shaken the aid sector, with Britain and the European Union reviewing Oxfam’s funding.

Jovenel Moise, Haiti's president, speaks during an interview in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, on Monday, January 29, 2018. /VCG Photo

Oxfam, one of the world's biggest disaster relief charities, apologized this week for unspecified sexual misconduct uncovered in a 2011 internal investigation. It has neither confirmed nor denied a recent Times of London report that some of its staff paid for sex with prostitutes.

"There should be an investigation into other organizations that have been working here since 2010," said Moise. "For example, Doctors Without Borders had to repatriate about 17 people for misconduct which was not explained," he added.

It was not clear what cases Moise was referring to.

Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders, known as Medecins Sans Frontieres in non-English speaking countries, is looking into Moise's comments and welcomes scrutiny on the aid sector, said spokeswoman Analia Lorenzo. She added that the organization had zero tolerance of sexual misconduct.

On Wednesday, Doctors Without Borders, which sends medical staff around the world to regions stricken with war and disease, said it had dealt with 24 cases of sexual harassment or abuse among its 40,000 staff last year, and dismissed 19 people as a result. It did not provide details of where the harassment or abuse took place, who was dismissed or whether the complaints were also registered with local law enforcement.

Oxfam pulls out of UK gov't bids

Oxfam's chief executive Mark Goldring leaves the Department for International Development (DFID) in central London on February 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

Oxfam chief executive Mark Goldring has repeatedly apologized for failings in the way the charity dealt with claims of sexual misconduct by its aid staff, but said some people refused to listen to explanations.

"The intensity and the ferocity of the attack makes you wonder, what did we do?" he said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.

"We murdered babies in their cots? Certainly, the scale and the intensity of the attacks feels out of proportion to the level of culpability. I struggle to understand it."

He suggested that some critics were motivated in part by opposition to taxpayer-funded aid – Oxfam received nearly 32 million British pounds (44 million US dollars) from the British government last year.

Earlier, the charity unveiled an action plan to tackle sexual harassment and abuse, and agreed not to bid for any more state funds until reforms were in place.

"Oxfam has agreed to withdraw from bidding for any new UK government funding until the Department for International Development is satisfied that they can meet the high standards we expect of our partners," the UK aid minister Penny Mordaunt said.

She said all the government's charitable partners had been asked to give assurances on their safeguarding and reporting practices by February 26.

"We have been very clear that we will not work with any organization that does not live up to the high standards on safeguarding and protection that we require," Mordaunt said.

Haiti calls on Belgium, UK to assume responsibility

Thousands of protesters holding banners and placards chant as they march to the Houses of Parliament during a demonstration, organized by Amnesty International, Refugee Action, Solidarity With Refugees, Oxfam and Amnesty International to show support for refugees on September 17, 2016 in London, England. /VCG Photo

Roland Van Hauwermeiren, the former Oxfam official at the center of the sex abuse scandal, said on Thursday he made mistakes by having a sexual relationship with the sister of a recipient of aid when working in Haiti but denied paying for sex with prostitutes or abusing minors.

In an open letter to a broadcaster in his native Belgium, he said he feared that Oxfam, other aid workers and those they help would suffer from false accusations.

"We call on the Belgian and UK government to assume their responsibility, and we call on the whole international community to help make sure those guilty of such misconduct are punished, whether they are Belgian or of another nationality," Moise said. "The dignity of the Haitian people has been trampled on."

Haitian Justice Minister Heidi Fortune told Reuters on Wednesday he had asked Belgium for help in starting legal action against Van Hauwermeiren. He did not say which laws he believed were broken.

Belgium's Justice Ministry said on Thursday it had received no such request and prosecutors said they were not aware of any investigation into Van Hauwermeiren. Belgium does not extradite its citizens to countries outside the European Union.

Prostitution is a crime in Haiti, but it was not clear what other crimes the Oxfam officials may have committed.

'The stain on Oxfam will shame us for years'

Oxfam International's executive director Winnie Byanyima speaks about strengthening global tax policy at the 2016 IMF World Bank Spring Meeting in Washington April 17, 2016. /VCG Photo‍

Oxfam has been mired in scandal since revelations one week ago that staff used prostitutes while working in Haiti following a devastating 2010 earthquake.

There have since been claims made about aid workers in Chad, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines, and three Oxfam global ambassadors including South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu have quit their roles.

Deputy chief executive Penny Lawrence resigned over the Haiti affair earlier this week and on Friday, Oxfam International's executive director, Winnie Byanyima, said it would haunt the charity.

"What happened in Haiti and afterwards is a stain on Oxfam that will shame us for years, and rightly so," she told the BBC, adding: "From the bottom of my heart, I am asking for forgiveness."

[Cover photo: An Oxfam sign is seen on a kiosk that was used to distribute water in Corail, a camp for displaced people of the 2010 earthquake, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on February 13, 2018. /VCG Photo]

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Source(s): AFP ,Reuters