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Published 14 Feb, 2018 07:11am

Oxfam faces fresh abuse claim as scandal widens

LONDON: Scandal-hit British charity Oxfam was reeling on Tuesday after fresh claims of sexual assault and cover-up in South Sudan, as Haiti’s president condemned the behaviour of some of its staff in his country as “undignified and dishonest”.

The latest revelations by Helen Evans, former global head of safeguarding, heaped pressure on chief executive Mark Goldring just hours after his deputy resigned over a scandal involving aid workers’ use of prostitutes in Haiti and Chad.

Evans accused senior managers of failing to act and also warned of assaults on children volunteering in Oxfam’s hundreds of charity shops in Britain.

Haitian President Jovenel Moise spoke out about the scandal on Tuesday saying on Twitter there was “nothing more undignified and dishonest” than humanitarian aid workers exploiting “needy people”.

Minister of Planning and External Cooperation Aviol Fleurant condemned “serious sexual crimes” carried out by staff members and said they had used money destined for victims of a devastating 2010 earthquake.

Evans told Channel 4 News of a survey conducted during her 2012-2015 tenure which exposed a “culture of sexual abuse” in some Oxfam offices.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2018

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