LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation): Bullying and elitism within global aid charity Oxfam have created “toxic” work environments and enabled sexual harassment by staff, an independent commission has found.
Many workers said they had faced entrenched elitism, sexism and racism, while problem staff members were often not held accountable for their actions, found the interim report released this week.
“There is still a lot to do in terms of building trust within the organization,” Shannon Mouillesseaux, one of the commissioners, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Oxfam said it was making changes to clamp down on misconduct and would act on the report’s recommendations.
“It is painfully clear that Oxfam is not immune from sexual and other forms of abuse that stem from the abuse of power,” Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam’s international executive director, said in a statement.
“To those who have experienced such unacceptable behavior: we are sorry, I am sorry, and we will follow up on any cases passed to us by the Commission as a matter of urgency.”
Oxfam was embroiled in a scandal when it emerged last February that its staff used prostitutes during a relief mission in Haiti, sparking a wider scandal over sexual harassment and abuse in the charity sector.
It appointed the independent commission to review the charity’s practices and culture in response to the Haiti revelations and is also conducting its own action plan to improve its culture and safeguarding.
The commission said Oxfam was not the only charity to face issues over sexual harassment and other misconduct, but its investigation had revealed significant problems remained.
Workers described elitist behavior and bullying in many offices, while “drastic inconsistencies” in handling safeguarding issues meant complaints were not always properly acted on, it said.
Former victims and whistleblowers said they had faced a lack of accountability when raising complaints, with some saying they had been effectively pushed out of the organization.
The commission said work was needed to build trust with staff and recommended changes including action to create a single unified safeguarding system and to diversify the charity’s leadership.
Sexual misconduct claims at Oxfam have sharply risen since the Haiti scandal, reaching 155 in the 2017-18 financial year compared to 87 in the year previously. (Reporting by Sonia Elks @soniaelks; Editing by Claire Cozens. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
Oxfam told to do more to tackle sexual misconduct and abuse
Oxfam told to do more to tackle sexual misconduct and abuse
- Many workers said they had faced entrenched elitism, sexism and racism, while problem staff members were often not held accountable for their actions
Ukraine is ready for direct talks with Russia after ceasefire: Zelensky
KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said Ukraine was ready for direct talks with Russia after a ceasefire.
“We are also ready to record that, after the ceasefire, we are ready to sit down in any format,” the Ukrainian president told journalists at a briefing.
FACTBOX-Major militant attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir
- At least 20 people feared dead after suspected militants opened fire on them in Indian controlled Kashmir
- India and Pakistan, who administer parts of Kashmir but claim it in entirety, have fought two wars over Kashmir
NEW DELHI, April 22 : At least 20 people were feared dead after suspected militants opened fire on them in India’s Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, with officials saying it was one of the deadliest such attacks in recent times.
Here is a look at major attacks over the years in India’s only Muslim-majority region, where militants have fought security forces for decades.
NOVEMBER 2024
At least 11 people were injured when militants threw a grenade at security personnel in a crowded flea market in the main city of Srinagar.
OCTOBER 2024
Six migrant workers and a doctor were shot dead by militants who opened fire near a tunnel construction site. The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility.
JUNE 2024
At least nine people died and 33 were injured when a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims plunged into a deep gorge after a suspected militant attack.
MAY 2024
Suspected militants opened fire on a tourist couple from the northwestern city of Jaipur, injuring them both.
FEBRUARY 2019
At least 44 security personnel were killed after a suicide bomber rammed a car into a bus carrying Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir. The militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility.
JULY 2017
At least seven Hindu pilgrims, on their way back from the revered Amarnath shrine deep in the Himalayas, died when their bus got caught in crossfire after two militant attacks on police in the area.
SEPTEMBER 2016
At least 17 soldiers were killed as separatists armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades stormed an army base in Uri near the disputed border with Pakistan.
Pentagon says leak probe may lead to US prosecutions
- Hegseth left open the possibility that individuals could be exonerated
- “We said enough is enough. We’re going to launch a leak investigation,” he said
WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Tuesday of possible prosecutions of former senior advisers who were fired during a probe into leaks of Pentagon information to the media, saying evidence would be handed over to the Department of Justice once the investigation is completed.
Dan Caldwell, who was one of Hegseth’s top advisers, and two other senior officials were fired on Friday after being escorted out of the Pentagon. But they have denied any wrongdoing and said they have been told nothing about any alleged crimes.
Hegseth, who has come under fire for using unclassified messaging system Signal to discuss plans to attack Yemen’s Houthi group, left open the possibility that individuals could be exonerated during the investigation but played down those chances.
“If those people are exonerated, fantastic. We don’t think — based on what we understand — that it’s going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation,” Hegseth told Fox News.
Hegseth said there had been a number of leaks that triggered the investigation, including about military options to ensure US access to the Panama Canal and Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon.
“We said enough is enough. We’re going to launch a leak investigation,” Hegseth said.
“We took it seriously. It led to some unfortunate places, people I have known for quite some time. But it’s not my job to protect them. It’s my job to protect national security.”
He said evidence would eventually be handed over to the Department of Justice.
“When that evidence is gathered sufficiently — and this has all happened very quickly — it will be handed over to the DOJ and those people will be prosecuted if necessary,” Hegseth said.
Caldwell had played a critical role as an adviser to Hegseth and his importance was underscored in a leaked text chain on Signal disclosed by The Atlantic last month.
In it, Hegseth named Caldwell as the best staff point of contact for the National Security Council as it prepared for the launch of strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
On Sunday, news emerged of a second Signal chat, a disclosure that Hegseth and other officials have blamed on former Pentagon employees.
Despite growing calls from Democrats for Hegseth to resign, President Donald Trump has stood firmly by his defense secretary.
John Ullyot, who was ousted from his job as a Pentagon spokesperson after two months, said on Sunday that Hegseth’s Defense Department was in “total chaos.”
“The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership,” Ullyot wrote in an opinion piece in Politico.
Asked about Ullyot’s remarks, Hegseth said: “He’s misrepresented a lot of things in the press. It’s unfortunate.”
Ghana in fresh drive to woo back Sahel states to West African bloc
- John Mahama: ‘The recent decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS is a regrettable development’
- Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are led by juntas that seized power in coups between 2020 and 2023
ACCRA: Ghana’s new leader said Tuesday he initiated a fresh bid to woo back Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to the west African bloc ECOWAS after the junta-led countries quit earlier this year.
President John Mahama said his government had appointed a special envoy to “initiate high-level conversations” with the three countries after their withdrawal from the political and economic group.
“The recent decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS is a regrettable development,” said Mahama at the launch of the bloc’s 50th anniversary celebrations in Accra, Ghana’s capital.
“We must respond not with isolation or recrimination, but with understanding, dialogue and a willingness to listen and to engage,” he said.
Before him, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye had initiated similar efforts but said earlier this month he had “done everything possible” to bring the three countries back into the bloc, to no avail.
ECOWAS earlier said it had extended invitations to the junta leaders to attend the event at Accra’s International Conference Center.
Officials acknowledged the presence of representatives of the three countries at the event, but did not specify who they were, with the junta leaders apparently having declined to attend.
Mahama, who took office in January, said he has “prioritized diplomatic re-engagement with our Sahelian neighbors.”
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are led by juntas that seized power in coups between 2020 and 2023 and have since turned away from former colonial power France and moved closer to Russia.
They lie in the region known as the Sahel, which stretches between the dry Sahara desert in the north and the more humid savannas to the south.
They quit ECOWAS at the beginning of the year, accusing the regional bloc of being subservient to France.
They have joined together in a bloc called the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which was originally set up as a defense pact in 2023 but now seeks closer integration.
Each has been wracked by attacks by extremists allied with either Al-Qaeda or Daesh for a decade — violence that governments have not been able to eradicate despite previous help from French forces.
Together the three countries sprawl over an area of some 2.8 million square kilometers (1.1 million square miles) — roughly four times the size of France — in Africa’s northwest.
Vietnam urges stricter controls on origin of goods after tariff shock
- The ministry called for stricter controls to avoid “sanctions that countries may apply on goods imported to their countries“
- “Uniform and determined measures are required... to stop and prevent fraud in the origin of goods”
HANOI: Vietnam’s trade ministry has ordered authorities to tighten control over the origin of goods to avoid sanctions by trading partners in the wake of threatened US tariffs, according to a document seen by AFP on Tuesday.
A document by the ministry dated April 15 said escalating trade tension meant Vietnam was increasingly exposed to trans-shipment fraud.
Less than two weeks earlier, US President Donald Trump had threatened massive 46 percent levies on Vietnam, with Washington accusing the country of facilitating Chinese exports to the United States and allowing Beijing to get around tariffs.
In the document, the ministry called for stricter controls to avoid “sanctions that countries may apply on goods imported to their countries.”
“Uniform and determined measures are required... to stop and prevent fraud in the origin of goods... especially illegal imported raw materials and goods without origin for the production of goods for export,” it added, without naming China.
Hanoi is now trying to negotiate with Trump over the so-called reciprocal tariffs, which have been paused until July.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged for “negotiations to promote balanced, stable, sustainable, and effective trade relations with the United States.”
He warned however that the talks were “not to affect another market.”
China on Monday said it “firmly opposes” other countries making trade deals with the United States at Beijing’s expense, warning it would take “countermeasures” against them.
During his visit to Vietnam last week, China’s President Xi Jinping urged the communist neighbor to join forces in upholding free trade.
Trump, however, said the trip was aiming to “screw” the United States.
Vietnam was Southeast Asia’s biggest buyer of Chinese goods in 2024, with a bill of $161.9 billion.
In the first three months of this year, the United States was Hanoi’s biggest export market.
Vietnam has long pursued a “bamboo diplomacy” approach — striving to stay on good terms with both China and the United States.
