Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE of the Oxfam charity in Britain has hit back at criticism over the prostitution scandal that he said was “out of proportion”, as the British charity agreed not to bid for more government funds until it cleans up its act.
Chief executive Mark Goldring has repeatedly apologised for failings in the way the charity dealt with claims of sexual misconduct by its aid staff but said some people refused to listen to explanations.
“The intensity and the ferocity of the attack make you wonder, what did we do?” he said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.
“We murdered babies in their cots? Certainly, the scale and the intensity of the attacks feels out of proportion to the level of culpability. I struggle to understand it.”
He suggested that some critics were motivated in part by opposition to taxpayer-funded aid - Oxfam received nearly €36 million from the British government last year.
The charity has unveiled an action plan to tackle sexual harassment and abuse and agreed not to bid for any more state funds until reforms were in place.
“Oxfam has agreed to withdraw from bidding for any new UK government funding until the Department for International Development is satisfied that they can meet the high standards we expect of our partners,” aid minister Penny Mordaunt said.
She said all the government’s charitable partners had been asked to give assurances on their safeguarding and reporting practices by 26 February.
“We have been very clear that we will not work with any organisation that does not live up to the high standards on safeguarding and protection that we require,” Mordaunt said.
Oxfam has been mired in scandal since revelations one week ago that staff used prostitutes while working in Haiti following a devastating 2010 earthquake.
There have since been claims made about aid workers in Chad, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines, and three Oxfam global ambassadors including South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu have quit their roles.
Deputy chief executive Penny Lawrence resigned over the Haiti affair earlier this week and on Friday, Oxfam International’s executive director, Winnie Byanyima, said it would haunt the charity.
“What happened in Haiti and afterwards is a stain on Oxfam that will shame us for years, and rightly so,” she told the BBC, adding: “From the bottom of my heart, I am asking for forgiveness.”
‘Lies and exaggerations’
Ministers have demanded Oxfam produce a plan on how to deal with any forthcoming allegations, that it report any staff members involved in the Haiti scandal and that it fully cooperate with the Haitian authorities.
The aid group said it would create an independent commission with the power to access records and interview staff, and impose stricter controls on employees.
It will also double the number of staff engaged in safeguarding and triple its funding in this area to more than €800,000 euros, while also increasing investment in gender training.
Oxfam fired four staff members for gross misconduct and allowed three others to resign following an internal inquiry into what happened in Haiti in 2011.
But it admitted on Thursday it had rehired one of those sacked just months later.
Roland van Hauwermeiren, Oxfam’s director in Haiti at the time and one of the three who resigned from the charity, dismissed the allegations.
“I have never been into a brothel, a nightclub or a bar in that country,” the 68-year-old Belgian said in a four-page letter published on the website of Belgian VTM News.
“There were numerous men and women who tried to get into my house with all sorts of excuses to demand money, work, or to offer sexual services. But I never gave into these advances,” he said.
Van Hauwermeiren, who has taken part in an internal inquiry at the British charity, said he told Oxfam he had engaged in “intimate relations some three times” at his home.
“This was with an honourable, mature woman, who was not an earthquake victim nor a prostitute. And I did not give her any money,” he said, adding that he was, however, “deeply ashamed” of the liaison.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
They should do a book, they’s make thousands at Christmas. I recognised so many of the old one, good memories.
Good idea!!!
Lovely to see them. Thanks.
it was always hard for ireland to match up to john hinde postcards it was better than the real thing; glorious sunshine and sunsets in every postcard, but very nostalgic
when i lived in new zealand i always got a john hinde calendar from my family at christmas time .it made the long year more bearable for an irishman in exile . there must be thousands of these calendars hanging in irish homes all over australia and new zealand .it would be a shame to see it come to an end ..
Well, Kevin, let me tell you I live in New Zealand and have done for the past twelve years. Let’s see. We’ve got jobs, we don’t have the political corruption that is part of the fabric of Irish life. We have a fabulous climate. We don’t have the pollution and privatising of our precious countryside. We have space to move around in. We don’t have the fear of being mugged in our own homes. We have a healthy, happy and equitable multi-cultural country. We are not defined by bigotry and intolerance. We have excellent public services. We are not riddled by the inefficiencies and couldn’t-be-arsed values of the Civil Service. Best of all, we have a wonderful country to bring up happy, curious and adventurous children. We are encouraged to love and enjoy this hidden gem at the far end of the planet. Yes, i miss my friends and family terribly, but when they come to visit, they never want to go home. . David Green
Lovely to see all the old ones. I recognize some from my own collection. A collectors book would be lovely to have.
I always bought his postcards and sent them to family and friends across the Pond. I have loved looking through them.
Good, in these times, to see something of old Ireland that we can look back on with some fondness. Don’t forget the calendars at Christmas, maybe there’s hope for them.
yes i agree a collectors book would be great or/and a postcard book to maybe have at hand to sen when you like without having to call into shops to find maybe shop have none in stock so buy a book of them at a time
A romantic view of ourselves before we lost the run of things but beautiful all the same.
Fantastic photos.
Another piece of old Ireland disappears. The beauty of those pictures is a reminder of all we’ve lost.
have your say