The British government has not listened to victims in its efforts to tackle abuse in the humanitarian sector after the “sex for aid” scandals, a UK watchdog has said.
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (Icai) said the government was falling short because of a “top-down” approach and needed to listen and learn from recipients of aid who remained reluctant to report abuse allegations.
“The UK has played an important role in galvanising international action on protecting people from sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian crises,” said Icai’s commissioner Sir Hugh Bayley. “But its top-down approach requires those delivering UK aid to spend more time reporting back to the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office], than listening to the people they are seeking to protect and addressing their needs.”
Britain’s initiative to tackle sexual exploitation in the aid sector was launched in 2018 after revelations that Oxfam employees sexually exploited victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The government held an international safeguarding summit to tackle the problem.
But the report found that abuse cases were still underreported. Icai said a survey in Uganda found people were hesitant to report cases to agencies because of long investigation processes, and concerns about corruption and not being believed.
Mechanisms for dealing with complaints were often overwhelmed because they dealt with a broad range of safeguarding issues beyond sexual exploitation, Icai added.
It said there were weaknesses internationally in sharing information about exploitation. However, the report said there had been progress in working with donors to promote a coordinated response within the humanitarian sector.
Stephanie Draper, chief executive of Bond, a network of charities and NGOs in the UK, said the FCDO had “taken important steps” but progress was being held back by a lack of data “around incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse and what works where, and how to address and prevent it”.
“Ultimately, the voices of victims and survivors need to be sought out and heard and this work needs to be adequately funded so organisations do not need to cut corners when it comes to safeguarding.”
A spokesperson for the FCDO said the UK was a “world leader” in tackling sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment in the aid sector. “We continue to prioritise this work, protecting the most vulnerable and making sure money does not go to organisations that fall short of high safeguarding standards,” they said.
