Charities working in the overseas aid sector are guilty of "complacency" that is "verging on complicity" in sexual abuse carried out by aid workers, according to a highly critical report from members of Parliament in the United Kingdom.
The International Development Committee report follows serious allegations printed in The Times newspaper in February, claiming senior staff at British charity Oxfam paid impoverished survivors of the 2010 Haiti earthquake for sex.
The report says the delivery of aid to people and communities in crisis has been subverted by sexual predators, with only superficial action taken to tackle it, ITV News reported. It noted the MPs said sexual exploitation and abuse was "endemic" throughout the aid sector and had been an "open secret" among managers.
Stephen Twigg, the UK's International Development Committee chairman, said charities seemed to be more interested in protecting their reputation than protecting victims.
"Take note," the BBC quoted him as saying. "We are putting all the relevant authorities on notice. No matter how insurmountable this looks, solutions must be found. This horror must be confronted."
The report said charities were "self-deluded" if they thought they had taken appropriate action.
The MPs said the charities only started to properly deal with the problem after allegations appeared in the media and the crisis was out in the open.
The Charity Commission responded to the report by calling for the overseas aid sector to show a "real commitment to lasting and demonstrable change".
The report urges more resources to be directed at the problem, and for victims to be at the center of solutions. It says people being helped by charities must be made aware of their rights, and should be able to report concerns. And they want people making accusations to receive feedback on their cases. The report also says known perpetrators must be prevented from moving from one charity to another.
Caroline Thomson, chair of trustees at Oxfam, said the organization has improved since 2011 but acknowledged it has further to go. She said the report was "incredibly painful reading", but welcome.
In addition to the claims against Oxfam, the Mail on Sunday reported in 2015 that senior managers with Save the Children faced allegations of inappropriate behavior. And the Evening Standard newspaper said Syrian women had been sexually exploited in return for aid. The paper said a February survey by the Thomson Reuters Foundation found more than 120 staff from 20 global charities had been fired in the previous year because of sexual misconduct.
