Britain will cut off aid funding from any organisation that does not comply with a new review into charities work overseas, aid minister Penny Mordaunt said on Sunday, describing reports of sexual exploitation in the sector as “utterly despicable”.
Oxfam, one of Britain’s biggest charities, on Friday condemned the behaviour of some former staff in Haiti after a newspaper report said aid workers had paid for sex while on a mission to help those affected by the 2010 earthquake.
Mordaunt said she would write to British charities working overseas demanding they declare any problems relating to the duty they have to protect their staff and the people they work with from harm and abuse – so-called ‘safeguarding’.
She also wanted charities to ensure any historical concerns have been properly handled, and spell out their policies for handling such cases. She will meet with the charities regulator this week.
“With regard to Oxfam and any other organisation that has safeguarding issues, we expect them to cooperate fully with such authorities, and we will cease to fund any organisation that does not,” Mordaunt said in a statement.
Reuters could not independently verify the allegations contained in The Times report and was unable to reach any of the Oxfam staff who worked in Haiti.
Oxfam neither confirmed nor denied The Times newspaper report but said its misconduct findings had “related to offences including bullying, harassment, intimidation and failure to protect staff as well as sexual misconduct”. “It is utterly despicable that sexual exploitation and abuse continues to exist in the aid sector,” Mordaunt said.
“The horrific behaviour by some members of Oxfam staff in Haiti in 2011 is an example of a wider issue on which DFID (Department for International Development) is already taking action, both at home and with the international community via the UN.”