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News ID: 49991
Publish Date : 12 February 2018 - 21:07

Oxfam Deputy Head Resigns Over Sex Scandal

LONDON (Dispatches) -- British charity Oxfam said Monday that Deputy Chief Executive Penny Lawrence had resigned, taking responsibility for how the organization "failed to act adequately" in response to concerns raised internally about sexual misconduct by some members of staff.
"Over the last few days, we have become aware that concerns were raised about the behavior of staff in Chad as well as Haiti that we failed to adequately act upon," Lawrence said in a statement.
"It is now clear that these allegations - involving the use of prostitutes and which related to behavior of both the Country Director and members of his team in Chad - were raised before he moved to Haiti."
The resignation comes as Oxfam is battling to save its British government funding after a newspaper reported alleged sexual misconduct by Oxfam staff in Haiti during humanitarian relief operations there following a 2010 earthquake.
A spokesman for the prime minister said Britain's government needs to do more to make charities strengthen safeguarding procedures to ensure the "horrific behavior" of some members of Oxfam International is not repeated.
Theresa May's spokesman told reporters that international aid minister Penny Mordaunt was meeting Oxfam representatives Monday to consider what further steps needed to be taken over a sexual misconduct scandal in Haiti.
"DFID (the Department for International Development) have taken action in this area to try and further strengthen systems to enforce a zero tolerance approach. There are a number of measures they have taken but we want to go further in this area," he said.