European commission may withhold £29m grant as charity faces statutory inquiry in UK
Oxfam could lose £29m in European
funding because of its handling of sexual misconduct by senior staff in Haiti and Chad, officials in Brussels have said.
The warning on Monday evening came as the UK’s Charity Commission launched a statutory inquiry into Oxfam amid concerns it might not have “fully and frankly disclosed” all details about the Haitiallegations. The charity’s deputy chief executive, Penny Lawrence, has resigned, saying was “desperately sorry”.
A former senior official at the charity also said she had repeatedly warned senior management of a culture of sexual abuse in some offices around the world, and asked for more resources to tackle the issue. Helen Evans, the head of global safeguarding at Oxfam from 2012 to 2015, told Channel 4 News that in a single day she received allegations about a woman being coerced to have sex in a humanitarian response by an aid worker, a woman being coerced in exchange for aid and another case where a staff member had been struck off for sexual abuse and hadn’t disclosed that.
She also claimed that volunteers as young as 14 in Oxfam shops in the UK had alleged abuse. In at least one case an adult volunteer had allegedly assaulted a child volunteer. In 2012-14 there were 12 allegations, she said.
The European commission, which provided almost as much funding as the UK government last year, said: “We are ready to review and if needed cease funding any partner who is not living up to the required high ethical standards.”
A spokeswoman said it expects Oxfam to “fully clarify the allegations with maximum transparency as a matter of urgency”.
The potential threat to humanitarian funds came as Penny Lawrence, who was international programmes director when concerns about sexual misconduct were first reported, quit saying she was “ashamed” at what had happened.
She admitted that allegations about paying for sex relating to Roland van Hauwermeiren, the country director for Chad, and members of his team there had been raised internally before he moved to Haiti, but not handled properly.
“I am desperately sorry for the harm and distress that this has caused to Oxfam’s supporters, the wider development sector, and most of all, the vulnerable people who trusted us,” she said.
Her resignation coincided with a meeting between the international development secretary, Penny Mordaunt, and Oxfam’s chief executive, Mark Goldring, and chair of trustees, Caroline Thomson.
Mordaunt stopped short of stripping Oxfam of its British government funding as she threatened to on Sunday, but insisted it provide full details of those involved in the misconduct to authorities in the UK and abroad to allow legal action to begin.
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