Oxfam, a charitable organization found and based in the United Kingdom, is currently under fire as a sexual misconduct scandal surfaced on multinational news outlets. A top executive of the international charity, resigned on February 12th 2018, as the British government is considering to de-fund the humanitarian group as accusations keep flooding in. The root of the conflict is the Oxfam workers who prostituted survivors of the Haitian Natural Disasters in 2010.
Haiti has temporarily suspended the charity from operating within the country, after they have monitored the company’s activity of firing employees who were tied to these sex parties within the staff housing. These incidents have occurred in the 2010-2011 period, however the media coverage has been amplified at the beginning of 2018, due to the company’s questionable management over the past several years.
Looking back at Oxfam’s misconduct timeline, their actions were mostly muted within the press, until The Times released a story in October 2017 on the sexual harassment activities within international charities. The article specifically calls attention to Oxfam’s troubled work environment; after Lesley Agams has reported that during her time-serving as the country director for Nigeria, she was sexually assaulted by an individual from the company. However, this type of aggressive behavior is common throughout international sectors.
A study conducted by the Humanitarian Women’s Network showcases that sexual aggression is highly present in the workplace, even in highly ranked international establishments. The factual summary of the survey:
- Average age = 36 years old
- 12 years of professional experience, 8 in the humanitarian field, average of 7 field missions per participant.
- 48 % of humanitarian female workers have experience being touched in an unwanted way (i.e. touched hair, massaged shoulders, embraced) by a male colleague.
- 55% were subjected to persistent romantic or sexual advanced from a male colleague
- 20% reported having being threatened with physical aggression by male colleagues.
This study depicts the darker side of charitable work culture, as we would usually categorize this as out of character for this type of organization, whose beliefs stand for justice. Our perception is usually blinded in these types of cases, as we automatically assume that these corporations would not contradict their company’s aims and values.
Since the release of the article in October, more claims have been pushed forward to the attention of the media, which urged the review of the company’s managerial and governance arrangements. However the continuation of resignations of high ranked officials within the organization in February 2018, put a negative spotlight on the charity, which reduced their trust with the public. A poll commissioned for Third Sector finds that more than 60% of people in the UK are less likely to donate to Oxfam as a result of their ongoing crisis.
The company has planned to release a more improved action plan on its safeguarding policies, yet that still didn’t prevent the loss of 7,000 regular donors since the scandal broke out. The addition of Haiti’s investigation into the organization, has significantly reduced the public’s trust in the charity’s values, as more information has been released about the unethical actions which were pursued within the organization and during the missions.
Sources:
Click to access hwn_full_survey_results_may_2016.pdf
https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/oxfam-timeline-haiti-scandal-unfolded/governance/article/1459242
Oxfam Scandal 
The graphics representing the results of questions asked about the public’s opinion were really good, and I liked that you made the timeline of the issue very clear. I thought that the video of the executive director was interesting because she repeated, “a few privileged individuals…abusing their power”, from the separate video shown in the first blog. Repeated rhetoric was a theme during the Mylan scandal as well, during my research I found that it was hard to find many videos that showed the CEO saying anything different than she did in the first video I watched. I believe the fact that this story is re-surfacing is worse for Oxfam, because they already got a second chance and they are beginning to veer back to a negative culture.
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An interesting, yet horrifying fact, which I have encountered throughout my research, is that a lot of charities tend to abuse this power. The halo effect pulls the suspicion away from them, which is where a lot of incidents were covered up easily. After the Oxfam scandal initially broke out, multiple cases of charities abusing their power internally and externally were being submitted to the UK Charity Commission.
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When you mentioned that a top executive of the international charity resigned as the British government was considering to de-fund them because of the accusations, I started to question the resignation. It would be interesting to see what the top executive had to say to the questions or comments regarding the accusations. It would give us an inside look on their true intention on whether they resigned because they did not want to deal with the troubling issue or because they were truly guilty. I liked how you mentioned the statistics on whether or not people in the UK would continue to support them after hearing this news. The facts you have provided are very important to the company and for us to see how the world is viewing this issue.
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The top executive discussed in this post was Penny Lawrence, Deputy Chief Executive of Oxfam. She has stated that she was “ashamed” and takes full responsibility for the sex scandal involving aid workers. Michelle Russell, the director of investigations at the commission, said if details were known earlier, they would have dealt with the situation very differently. This makes me wonder which route of action would authorities have taken, if Oxfam released all of the cases of misconduct.
You can read more about her resignation here: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2018/02/oxfam-announces-resignation-of-deputy-chief-executive
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43027631
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That’s crazy – it’s a little bit crazy that the information came out like that. It definitely would be incredibly shocking, and the responses to it are very understandable. Unfortunately, many organizations always try to hide these acts, and it’s not uncommon for many universities to hide scandals as well.
I think the results from the public concerning their opinions were very well reflected in the graphs shown – it really helps visualize the information.
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Like I have mentioned in my blog posts and to Eric’s comments, I think certain type of institutions such as charities and universities attempt to maintain that “halo effect” image. These establishments are supposed to provide safe environments, and in order to keep up with that conception, they are willing to let things “slip by”.
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