There is a “very similar culture” between the enablers of sexual abuse in the aid sector and in Rotherham, England — where a major scandal took place — according to a senior member of Parliament.
Sarah Champion, chair of the International Development Committee of MPs, which monitors development policy, also represents the Rotherham constituency in Parliament. She became known for her work supporting the victims of a far reaching and long running sexual abuse scandal in the town: Around 1,400 children were sexually exploited in the town between 1997 and 2013, according to a 2014 inquiry into the scandal.
Champion said the two cases are similar because “people turned a blind eye and people weren’t held to account.” The entire sector is at fault, including the United Nations and NGOs, according to Champion. “It’s the culture of organizations that allows abuse to flourish … unless we tackle the culture of the aid sector as a whole, we will not make any difference at all,” she said.
Champion added that staff vetting, safeguarding, and victim response processes were often weak in the development sector. She said safeguarding measures were often lacking from programs because “the culture of the sector is one of colonialism, one of patronage, and [the idea] that people are really good people, doing [the job] for the right reasons.”
The attitude has “allowed a situation where perpetrators … are seen as good and above reprimand, and recipients seen as people who ought to be grateful,” said Champion. “This has led to an extreme power imbalance,” she added.
Champion cited the recent media reports alleging a United Nations sex-for-jobs scandal in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the identity of abusers was said to be widely known, and translators were even interpreting sex-for-jobs negotiations.
Asmita Naik, an independent consultant specializing in safeguarding, agreed that “institutional failings are the problem.” She claimed “there are people who simply don’t want us to know about this … there are vested interests in not looking into this, by the very groups who would normally be profiling human rights issues.”
Naik, who authored a landmark 2002 report on the sexual abuse of children by aid workers and peacekeepers in West Africa, dismissed the notion that sexual abuse was underreported, saying “in my experience this is often openly talked about” and the problem was one of “underaction, refusing to listen, or turning a blind eye. People do know about it including staff, but for some reason this isn’t rising up to get further attention.”
In Rotherham, Champion estimated that about 1 in 20 people with whom she spoke during her election campaigning knew about the abuse or the identity of perpetrators — suspicions she said were later vindicated by a law enforcement investigation. “Getting the information was not hard, people knew but had no way of reporting, no one wanted to listen,” said Champion.
“Many of the aid workers implicated are local, because most aid workers are local, [to the country where programs are operating],” added Naik. “We shouldn’t be swayed by stereotypes of western pedophiles entering the sector being the main part of the problem. I don’t deny their existence, but it’s not the main part of the problem.”
Both Naik and Champion suggested that donor funding should prioritize organizations that show improved institutional processes on sexual abuse, including presenting records of allegations and the organizational response.
About the author
William Worley@willrworley
Will Worley is the Climate Correspondent for Devex, covering the intersection of development and climate change. He previously worked as UK Correspondent, reporting on the FCDO and British aid policy during a time of seismic reforms. Will’s extensive reporting on the UK aid cuts saw him shortlisted for ‘Specialist Journalist of the Year’ in 2021 by the British Journalism Awards. He can be reached at william.worley@devex.com.
