The international aid group Doctors Without Borders found a pattern of abuse and ***** ual exploitation by some local and foreign staff working in Chad along the Sudanese border, in some cases targeting underage girls or trading food or jobs for ***** with refugees, according to a confidential internal memo obtained by The ***** ociated Press.
The Doctors Without Borders report — completed in July and first reported Saturday by The ***** ociated Press — found 59 allegations of abuse and said 18 staff members were dismissed and barred from future employment. In some cases, the group told AP, the allegations couldn't be verified or the perpetrators identified. The report also said some of the repeated exploitation suggested potentially organized "sexual trafficking."
The organization said it launched the monthslong investigation in response to AP reporting that women had accused staff of ***** ually exploiting them in displacement sites in Chad, where hundreds of thousands fled from Sudan's devastating civil war, now in its fourth year. The report credited AP as playing "a fundamental role as an external whistleblower."
The findings by Doctors Without Borders — one of the largest employers and biggest aid organizations in the refugee camps in eastern Chad — indicate the abuse was more widespread than previously reported.
Sexual exploitation has repeatedly surfaced during humanitarian crises despite years of efforts by aid organizations to prevent abuse.
The Doctors Without Borders report — completed in July and first reported Saturday by The ***** ociated Press — found 59 allegations of abuse and said 18 staff members were dismissed and barred from future employment. In some cases, the group told AP, the allegations couldn't be verified or the perpetrators identified. The report also said some of the repeated exploitation suggested potentially organized "sexual trafficking."
The organization said it launched the monthslong investigation in response to AP reporting that women had accused staff of ***** ually exploiting them in displacement sites in Chad, where hundreds of thousands fled from Sudan's devastating civil war, now in its fourth year. The report credited AP as playing "a fundamental role as an external whistleblower."
The findings by Doctors Without Borders — one of the largest employers and biggest aid organizations in the refugee camps in eastern Chad — indicate the abuse was more widespread than previously reported.
Sexual exploitation has repeatedly surfaced during humanitarian crises despite years of efforts by aid organizations to prevent abuse.
5 months ago
