Australia’s peak body for the aid and international development NGOs has apologised to victims and survivors of sexual misconduct perpetrated by aid workers following the release of a report which found there had been 31 substantiated claims of sexual misconduct in the sector in the past three years.
The report found that there had been 76 incidents of sexual misconduct reported by agencies during the period, of which 31 were substantiated cases involving aid workers. Of those, 17 consisted of sexual harassment – the majority of which took place between aid workers, six of sexual abuse and eight involving other types of sexual misconduct. Of the six cases of sexual abuse, four were perpetrated by overseas partner organisations or sub-contractors and two were not stated.
The report was commissioned by the Australian Council for International Development, which represents some 119 humanitarian agencies, and carried out by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine which spent five months reviewing ACFID members’ practice and culture. It was announced after reports of sexual misconduct in the international aid and development sector were brought to light in the UK earlier this year.
In a statement released this week, ACFID’s board said it would like to “acknowledge and apologise to the victim/survivors of sexual misconduct who have been harmed – both those we work alongside and those we exist to protect and support”.
“We are not able to undo that harm, but as leaders we can act in unity to listen and prevent harm in the future. We are crystal-clear that the path of resolution, redress and change will be formed by your experiences. We pledge to shed light on and harness our failings; unceasingly assess how we can improve practice; and challenge gendered power relations where they exist.”
The board, which said its goal has always been to reduce cases of sexual misconduct to zero, has accepted all 31 of the report’s recommendations.
CEO Marc Purcell said the organisation would publicly report back on its annual progress in meeting them.
“Any case of sexual misconduct is absolutely unacceptable,” he said. “Our goal is to always keep people safe from risk and harm. One case is a failure. We have opened up the sector to scrutiny and found the need to make changes in the way our members report incidents of sexual misconduct; to better embed gender equity into everything we do; and to put the experiences of victim/survivors at the forefront of reporting, redress and ongoing support.”
World Vision Australia, a member organisation of ACFID, welcomed the report’s findings. CEO Claire Rogers, who sits on the board of ACFID, said it was “everyone’s responsibility to ensure there is no place in any country for the abuse of anyone”.
She said while World Vision already had a robust regime for preventing and responding to sexual misconduct, it supported the sector’s efforts to improve its capacity to do so.
“It was important that as a sector we shine a light on all areas we need to improve in our approach to protect against misconduct – especially where it impacts on vulnerable children and communities and a safe and equitable working environment. It is now incumbent upon each organisation to act, to ensure we are all doing what we can to prevent and protect against sexual misconduct.”
