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Charity Commission for England and Wales Issues Sweeping Report on Oxfam Sexual Abuse Allegations

By nonprofitlawprof

Oxfam
The Charity Commission for England and Wales has completed a sweeping report on venerated charity, OXFAM International.  The report was prompted by reports of sexual abuse of Haitian women and children as far back as 2011.  OxFam has essentially admitted the findings, according to this BBC news report.  Here is an excerpt from the 36 page Report: 

3. Allegations of staff use of prostitutes and the involvement of minors

Unlike some other organisations at the time, Oxfam GB did have a code of conduct in place that made it clear that harassment, intimidation and exploitation was prohibited, as was “transactional sex with beneficiaries, sexual activity with persons under 18 or vulnerable people”. Its PSEA policy was that if prostitution was illegal in the country then it was prohibited under the Code of Conduct. However, it also gave a degree of discretion to local management about whether they could go further and ban staff using prostitutes more generally when it did not involve beneficiaries and was not an illegal activity in country. In this case, the local management would be or include the Country Director.  The internal investigation identified by admission and/or evidence that four2 staff under scrutiny either did or were suspected of using prostitutes, including on charity residential premises. The final report could not conclude whether minors were involved in some of the incidents investigated: 

“None of the initial allegations concerning fraud, nepotism, or use of under-age prostitutes was substantiated during the investigation, although it cannot be ruled out that any of the prostitutes were under-aged” [Inquiry emphasis].  From its examination of the internal investigation records available, and information and evidence provided to the Inquiry through its own enquiries, the Inquiry’s finding is that not all lines of enquiry about the use of prostitutes and/or minors’ involvement were fully pursued in 2011.
In the Inquiry’s view, the position on the legality and culpability of the parties for the various activities connected with prostitution was not clear until after the conclusion of the internal investigation. In any event, the external legal advice sought was not received until 1 September 2011 after the investigation findings were made and the outcome report had been finalised.

  
In light of the seriousness of the allegations and concerns that some females may have been under age, the Inquiry’s view is that the lines of enquiry about the nature and extent of what happened should have been pursued further. Given the serious nature of the allegations and potential risk of harm the 2011 CEO and the Director of International Programmes should have ensured and obtained sufficient evidence that the enquiries were fully followed up. With hindsight, the 2011 CEO publicly accepted in 2018 that more should have been done to follow up whether minors were involved. This was particularly important in the Inquiry’s view due to the significance and seriousness of the allegations.  

Oxfam GB proceeded on the basis that the allegation that the prostitutes were minors was found not to be true including when considering what to communicate internally and externally. However, the outcome report result left open the possibility those involved were under age.  Separately, Oxfam GB’s senior executive had to deal with the two emails dated 18 July 2011 and 20 August 2011. Both were said to be from a 13 year old about herself and a 12 year old girl and made different and further allegations of physical abuse and other misconduct involving Oxfam staff. The Inquiry was informed that it was suspected by Oxfam GB at the time, but not then proven, that they were not genuine. The Inquiry’s finding is that taking into consideration the seriousness of the allegations made in those emails, as well as the clear risks to the safety and security of those minors if the allegations were true, Oxfam GB should have tried harder and taken more steps at the time to identify the source of the concerns and followed up the allegations and concerns, notwithstanding they suspected them to be false.

This shortcoming has been acknowledged by Oxfam GB’s current chair who has accepted that: “Oxfam did not adequately investigate the allegations, received in an e-mail dated 18 July 2011, that minors were being sexually abused by Oxfam employees, nor did it report these allegations to the Commission or appropriate law enforcement agencies. This would not be the case now. Today, such a serious allegation would be dealt with very differently.” 

In May 2019, in response to the statement made by the current Chair of trustees, the 2011 CEO stated to the Inquiry that “At the time we believed that we had adequately followed up on these emails. We had been given reassurances by our staff that they had been to the convent and that there was no trace of these girls. We also believed that having a full investigation which resulted in nine people leaving our employment was the best way of ensuring that any ongoing abuse was immediately curtailed. I was dismayed to find out during the course of this inquiry that our investigations were not as full as they could have been. If these emails had been genuine I would want to know that they had been followed up as extensively as possible in order to find these individuals and ensure that they were safe. I am therefore relieved to know that we [now] have evidence backing up our understanding at the time that these emails were not genuine”.

The Inquiry’s view is that Oxfam GB should not have taken the risk with the safety of minors. It should have reported the possibility of two girls being at risk to the local law enforcement authorities. The matter was reported to law enforcement in the UK by both the Commission and Oxfam in 2018. The decisions about and handling of the matter at the time meant the charity exposed itself to undue risk, amounting to mismanagement in the administration of charity.  The Inquiry’s view is the focus of the Oxfam GB investigation at the time became about getting enough evidence to ensure the individuals of concern were removed from Haiti and Oxfam GB. The risk to and impact on the victims appeared to take second place and was not taken seriously enough.  Given the period of time that has passed, it will not be possible to conclude with sufficient certainty whether minors were involved or at risk.

 

You can read The Commission’s “Official Warning” below the fold.  See also, the 142 page Statement of the Results of an Inquiry:  Oxfam.

Darryll K. Jones

 

The Charity Commission for England and Wales (“the Commission”) issues the Official Warning under section 75A of the Charities Act 2011, to the Charity on the following grounds: s75(1)(b) –  mismanagement in the administration of the Charity has been committed in connection with the Charity as follows:

  • Failure to take appropriate decisions during 2015 – 2017 in relation to safeguarding such that there was ongoing inadequate resourcing and capability of the charity to match the level of risk faced by the charity, given its global reach and the nature of the activities.
  • Failure to ensure prior to improvements in 2018 adequate assurance of safeguarding risks by the charity, including systems and processes which would have enabled regular monitoring of KPIs and adequate case practice and reporting, exposing the charity to undue risk. In particular, the charity failed to implement its policies and practices in this area consistently, which meant that the charity was not able to provide necessary assurance internally, or externally, to beneficiaries, the regulator and also to the public, that safeguarding risks were being identified properly and/or adequately managed in practice, including full, frank and timely reporting in compliance with the Commission’s serious incident reporting regime in relation to safeguarding incidents, and report to other relevant agencies.
  • Failure in the handling of, the events involving staff misconduct in Haiti in 2011, leading to a failure to apply disciplinary processes, policies and procedures consistently as between three particular members of staff and there do not appear to be sufficient reasons for doing so, affecting its ability to deal with all of the risks, in particular the medium and longer term risks that arose and its ability to alert other charities to relevant risks in due course. This subsequently exposed the charity to scrutiny and adverse criticism about its handling of events, damaging public trust in it.
  • Failure to properly manage the risks connected to, and not reporting onwards to local law enforcement authorities in Haiti, to the Commission or other authorities, on receipt in July 2011, of concerns that two girls under 14 years of age might be at risk of sexual exploitation. Other action that Commission is considering taking to rectify the mismanagement referred to above:
  • Regulatory action under section 84 of the Charities Act 2011 to direct action expedient in the interests of the charity to ensure compliance with the outstanding recommendations of the Ineqe.