Oxfam has apologised to Haiti’s government after its staff was accused of sexual misconduct during a mission after the 2010 earthquake in the country.
“We’ve communicated that to the minister and we’ve given as best we can explanations as to what happened in 2011,” Simon Ticehurst, Oxfam’s regional director, told reporters on Monday, after meeting Aviol Fleurant, Haiti’s minister of planning and external cooperation.
“We are open to collaborate as much as we can, in further investigations, as necessary with the Haitian government,” Ticehurst said.
Earlier this month, reports surfaced that Oxfam employees paid sex workers while on an aid mission following Haiti’s devastating earthquake in 2010.
According to a 2011 internal probe by Oxfam, released earlier on Monday, seven employees left the organisation as a result of the investigation.
Four staff members were fired, and three others, including former country director Roland van Hauwermeiren, were allowed to resign over the allegations, the report revealed.
The internal inquiry also said that a witness during the investigation may have been physically threatened by three of the men suspected of abuse.
Source: Al Jazeera News