PENNY LAWRENCE THE DEPUTY HEAD OF UK CHARITY OXFAM QUITS OVER HAITI SEX SCANDAL
The deputy head of Oxfam
resigned on Monday over what she said was the British charity’s failure to
adequately respond to past allegations of sexual misconduct by some of its
staff.
The resignation of
Penny Lawrence came after days of crisis at the charity triggered by a report
in the Times newspaper alleging that some staff had paid for sex with
prostitutes in Haiti in 2011, during humanitarian relief efforts after an
earthquake.
“Over the last few
days we have become aware that concerns were raised about the behavior of staff
in Chad as well as Haiti that we failed to adequately act upon,” Lawrence said
in a statement.
”It is now clear
that these allegations - involving the use of prostitutes and which related to
behavior of both the Country Director and members of his team in Chad - were
raised before he moved to Haiti.
“As program director
at the time, I am ashamed that this happened on my watch and I take full
responsibility,” she said.
While neither
confirming nor denying the detailed allegations made in the Times article last
week, Oxfam had said that it had held an internal investigation over alleged
misconduct in Haiti in 2011.
As a result of that
investigation, Oxfam said, four staff members had been dismissed and three,
including the Haiti country director who had previously held that role in Chad,
had resigned.
“The misconduct
findings related to offences including bullying, harassment, intimidation and
failure to protect staff as well as sexual misconduct,” Oxfam said in a
statement on Friday.
Lawrence’s
resignation came on the same day that senior Oxfam managers were summoned to a
meeting with Britain’s aid minister Penny Mordaunt, who has threatened to
withdraw government funding from the charity if it did not come clean.
In its last
financial year Oxfam received 32 million pounds ($44 million) from Mordaunt’s
ministry, about 8 percent of its overall income. However, private donations are
also likely to be hit by the bad publicity over the Chad and Haiti allegations.
The scandal was fast
escalating into a broader crisis for Britain’s aid sector by bolstering critics
in the ruling Conservative Party who have argued that the government should
reduce spending on aid in favor of domestic priorities.
Founded in 1942,
Oxfam is one of Britain’s best-known charities, running humanitarian and aid
operations across the globe. Its 650 shops selling second hand clothes and
books to raise funds are a familiar sight on high streets across Britain.
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