World Vision, an evangelical Christian charity, have been accused of forcing Haitians to have sex in order to be given World Food Programme aid, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.
It claims a former World Vision worker made the allegations about the British-funded charity – which received £17 million from the UK Government last year – following the scandal over the use of prostitutes by Oxfam officials, also in Haiti.
A statement from World Vision said the allegation ‘misrepresents our actions and omits key findings from our investigations which we described publicly several years ago’.
The statement said ‘evaluations’ carried out by World Vision ‘highlighted a number of issues in government-run camps; of nepotism, sexual exploitation and inaccurate record-keeping’.
It went on: ‘World Vision’s extensive investigations into these issues revealed that those involved in sexual exploitation were not World Vision staff.
‘They were community volunteers and cash-for-work beneficiaries themselves.’
Meghan Markle was an ambassador for the charity (Picture: World Vision)
The charity said it reported the issues to authorities and implemented training and follow-up procedures to ‘cut down on these practices’.
If anybody wants to report ‘inappropriate behaviour’ by World Vision employees they should report it to their whistleblower hotline, the statement added.
Meghan Markle was an ambassador for the charity until last year and previously made a visit to Rwanda to support the work done by the charity.
It is the latest of Britain’s major charities to be shaken by allegations of sexual abuse after it was revealed Oxfam aid workers abused children and used prostititues in Haiti, the Ivory Coast and Southern Sudan.
A Save the Children report from a decade ago suggested ‘significant’ abuse was being carried out by aid workers from unspecified charities overseas, with Oxfam admitting it was aware of the report.
The 2008 report resurfaced on Friday and detailed horrifying abuse including food in return for sex acts and a 15-year-old girl being offered the equivalent of £2 and some chocolate to perform a sex act on ‘a couple of humanitarian men’.
More than 340 people were spoken to in total, revealing ‘inadequate’ safeguarding against ‘significant levels of abuse of boys and girls’, much of which was inflicted during emergencies and went unreported.
The report – which uncovered ‘every kind of child sexual abuse and exploitation imaginable’ – found that children were fearful of telling anyone about what was happening because they thought they might lose out on future aid.
Save the Children recommended the establishment of a global watchdog to evaluate how agencies tackled abuse, including the launch of an effective complaints procedure.
The report came to light just hours after Oxfam chief executive Mark Goldring said the backlash against the charity is ‘out of proportion’ and suggested no-one had ‘murdered babies in their cots’.
To report sexual exploitation by World Vision employees collect call the confidential Whistleblower Hotline on +1-503-726-3990 or report it online at http://worldvision.ethicspoint.com
Source: http://metro.co.uk/2018/02/18/british-charity-backed-meghan-markle-denies-staff-sexually-abused-haiti-earthquake-survivors-7321759/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
