Oxfam has suspended two employees on charges of sexual misconduct in the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent years, the British charity said on Friday, months after ordering a broader investigation into allegations of abuse in the Central African country.
The suspensions were the latest problems for Oxfam, whose British government funding was cut off for nearly three years after a sexual exploitation scandal in Haiti in early 2018. The charity was allowed to sign up for this assistance again just a few weeks ago. back.
“We suspended two members of the Oxfam team in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of an ongoing external investigation, which we set up last November, on allegations of abuse of power, including intimidation and sexual misconduct,” the charity said in a statement. communicated on Friday.
The accusations against Oxfam and other humanitarian workers in the Congo come amid a broader examination of sexual abuse allegations by United Nations humanitarian and peacekeepers who work with some of the most vulnerable people in the world in war zones and humanitarian emergencies.
In November, Oxfam commissioned an independent inquiry into the conduct of its workers in Congo, after dozens of women expressed allegations of sexual abuse. The United Nations and other aid agencies have started similar investigations of their workers.
Oxfam’s investigation came after a report last September in The New Humanitarian, a Geneva-based nonprofit news organization, on the conduct of humanitarian workers in Congo during the Ebola crisis from 2018 to 2020. She cited accusations of more than 50 women who said they had been sexually abused by employees of several major charities, including Oxfam.
The accusations focus on several incidents in eastern Congo, at a time when several international aid groups were working in the region. The report mentioned officials from several other groups and aid agencies.
Oxfam said the external investigation started in November involved broader accusations.
The charity said in its statement that it was “perfectly aware of our duty to survivors, including supporting them to speak safely”, and added: “We are working hard to complete the investigation in a fair, safe and effective manner” .
In February 2018, the Haitian government suspended Oxfam’s British branch from working in the country after an investigation found that there was sexual misconduct by employees and that aid workers abused their power and paid women to have sex.
A senior Oxfam executive also stepped down that month, when it was revealed that an officer in charge of operations in Chad was authorized to remain with the charity at a time when similar claims were made there against humanitarian workers. This employee moved to Haiti, where there were accusations of continued sexual abuse.
Oxfam was one of several international aid groups that worked in Haiti after a devastating earthquake hit the country in January 2010, killing more than 200,000 people, according to estimates by the Haitian government. The group has faced scrutiny in the decade since the disaster.
A cholera outbreak that later killed thousands of Haitians has been traced to UN peacekeepers sent after the earthquake. And in recent years, UN peacekeeping officials and some of its aid agencies have been accused of sexual abuse in the Central African Republic, Congo and Haiti.
The problems forced a review of protection measures within the organization. Last month, António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, released an annual report on the global body’s response to sexual exploitation and abuse.
That report acknowledged the most recent accusations involving United Nations workers involved in the Ebola response and said that an independent commission and other bodies were “investigating these errors”.
“I am deeply concerned that such blatant allegations will continue to involve United Nations officials and we promise that we will redouble and spare no effort to address the underlying factors that harm those we seek to help,” said Guterres in the report.
The UN report also noted that the coronavirus pandemic “has deepened existing inequalities and exposed people in vulnerable situations to increased risks of sexual exploitation and abuse”.