Oxfam is experiencing a moment of disgrace. Allegations that leading representatives of the charity in Haiti used prostitutes and exploited locals have rocked it to its core. It also seems as if Oxfam has been trying to cover up this scandal since 2011. Penny Lawrence, Oxfam’s deputy chief executive, has resigned, saying she feels ‘ashamed’.
So what actually happened? Following an internal inquiry into sexual exploitation in 2011, Oxfam quietly sacked four male workers and allowed three to resign. The Times this week revealed that these men had used local Haitian prostitutes, shortly after the devastating earthquake there. The internal Oxfam report said it could not be ‘ruled out that any of the prostitutes were underaged’. Among the men allowed to resign was Roland van Hauwermeiren, who admitted to using prostitutes in an Oxfam-rented villa. He was paid a month’s notice and then he started a new job with Action Against Hunger in Bangladesh.
Many are in shock over the behaviour of these ‘humanitarian’ aid workers. I’m not. These men exploited their position of power in a devastated part of the world in order to get sex. Most aid workers would never do something like that. Most aid workers have what they consider to be good intentions. However, the aid industry’s relationship with the Third World is a deeply problematic one. It sets up Westerners as powerful white saviours of the apparently damaged or vulnerable peoples of the poorer parts of the world. And in such circumstances, in a situation where you are the good, pure person coming to save those in need, it is not surprising that some people might exploit such a moral position for personal gain or satisfaction.
Oxfam continually pushes the narrative that countries like Haiti, and people like Haitians, need Western helpers in order to survive. Then there are Africans, depicted by the likes of Oxfam as hapless peoples, dependent on us decent Westerners to sell red noses, bake cakes and run marathons in order to raise money for them.
What passes for humanitarian aid today is often lacking in humanity. It may not intend to, but it often dehumanises people in the Third World. Consider Oxfam’s own ‘Making a Living’ project. It encouraged Westerners to send a ‘pile of poo’ to help poor black people grow vegetables. The problem with white, comfortably off Brits sending bags of shit to Africans was seemingly lost on Oxfam and its supporters.