UK: Oxfam faces more pressure after new report of sex abuse

British aid organization Oxfam faced fresh pressure on Tuesday after a former senior member of staff said her concerns about “a culture of sexual abuse” involving aid workers were not taken seriously by the charity’s bosses. Helen Evans’ statement deepened the scandal around one of the best-known international NGOs, with aid programs running across the […]

British aid organization Oxfam faced fresh pressure on Tuesday after a former senior member of staff said her concerns about “a culture of sexual abuse” involving aid workers were not taken seriously by the charity’s bosses.

Helen Evans’ statement deepened the scandal around one of the best-known international NGOs, with aid programs running across the globe. 

It came the same day as the chairman of Oxfam’s international umbrella group, Juan Alberto Fuentes, was arrested in his home country Guatemala as part of a separate corruption investigation unrelated to the charity’s work. 

Evans, who was in charge of investigating allegations against Oxfam staff members between 2012 and 2015, told Channel 4 television that abuse cases she had heard of included a woman who had been coerced to have sex in exchange for aid. 

Another involved an assault on a teenage volunteer by a staff member in an Oxfam charity shop in Britain, she said.