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THE ONE CAMPAIGN, an advocacy organisation co-founded by U2 frontman Bono, is acknowledging “an institutional failure” after an internal investigation revealed a pattern of abuse and misconduct among leadership in its Johannesburg office between 2011 and 2015.
The nonprofit, launched in 2004, focuses on fighting poverty and preventable diseases, particularly in Africa. “Actions. Speak. Louder.” is its official motto.
In a letter to members posted on its website yesterday, CEO Gayle Smith said that between late 2011 and early 2015 staffers in South Africa were bullied, berated and belittled by managers.
Employees told investigators that a supervisor made them work as party hostesses at her home on weekends.
The letter also says a female employee alleged that a supervisor made sexist and suggestive comments about her to a government official, and that she was demoted after refusing to have sex with the dignitary.
Smith, who joined the organisation in March 2017, said One Campaign learned about the allegations after the employees, who had all since left, shared their grievances on social media in November of last year. Smith wrote that the organisation then launched an internal investigation.
The sexual harassment allegations are so far uncorroborated, Smith wrote, but she stressed that the organisation does not “discount any allegation”.
Investigators were able to substantiate claims of bullying and harassment that included instances of the Johannesburg manager calling her staff names including “idiot,” ”stupid” and “worthless”.
The report also found that executive managers were made aware of the abuse, through emails and complaints filed through human resources, and failed to stop it.
“The overall evidence from our investigation was sufficient for me to conclude that we needed to own an institutional failure and ensure that our organisation has in place the systems, policies and practices needed so that this never happens again,” Smith wrote.
Smith said in an interview with The Associated Press that both the employees who alleged the abuse and all leadership and executive management involved are no longer with the organisation.
The letter comes on the heels of reports of misconduct within other UK-based nonprofit organisations.
Anti-poverty charity Oxfam recently came under fire over allegations that staffers working in Haiti following a devastating 2010 earthquake hired prostitutes.
The deputy executive director of UNICEF, a children’s aid foundation, recently resigned after he was accused of acting inappropriately toward female staff while working at a different charity, Save the Children.
More than 1,000 women recently signed an open letter calling for increased accountability surrounding sexual harassment and assault in the aid sector, with the hashtags #ReformAid and #AidToo.
Smith wrote that she has implemented new systems to help ensure accountability, including hiring a new executive director for Africa and planning to place a human resources manager on site in South Africa.
“We’ve got an obligation to find out how we do better,” Smith said.
A spokesman for One Campaign said Bono was made aware of the findings in November, shortly after the former employees tweeted about them.
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Is Texas a symptom of everything that’s wrong with the USA
@Great White Hope: yes it is. A pretty messed up place. Have been there for work allot and it’s a mess.
@Great White Hope: yep, highest execution rates in the US by far as well. They should just declare themselves to be their own country, let the rest of the lads get on with it.
@Great White Hope: yes
@Great White Hope: abortion is murder
@frank griffin: And what is capital punishment?
@frank griffin: nope.
Well done Joe. Top man.
@Paul Gorry: Why? He’s going to lose. Essentially a fait accompli now, I really don’t see how he could have done less to be honest with you. Certainly not expending any *political* capital on it, is he?
@John Considine: just because he’s not trump John.
@Paul Gorry: you seriously believe that? Do you know nothing?
How there isn’t exemptions for child abuse/incest/rape/ fatal fetal abnormalities says a lot about the gender that brought in this law. Not their finest hour at all.
@Joanne McCormack: assuming genders are we?
@Joanne McCormack: that’s because abortion rights have nothing to do with “saving lies”. Abortion restrictions are put in place to control women. That is the only reason.
@Dave Wave: assuming that Republican men attempt to control women? That’s not an assumption, it’s a fact. Do you even know who wrote this bill? There are no assumptions here, Dave.
@Drunk in Dublin: rubbish
Least they are giving it some thought
Why are legislators refusing to single out such as rape as being distinctly different.
@Tom Molloy: an unborn child is an unborn child no matter how it was conceived.
@Tom Molloy: I suppose it’s extremely difficult to prove.
@Tom Molloy: although in the cases of underage girls it’s automatically statutory rape.
@Tom Mullally: at 6 weeks, it’s not a child , it’s the size of a finger nail.
@Declan B: we were all the size of a fingernail once. A life is life.
@Martin O Connell: Do you agree with abortion to save the life of the mother?
@Martin O Connell: we were all a bit of a sperm aswell… its not really a life tho?
@Bill Spill: yes bill I do. I disagree with it for the sake of convenience though. There should be exceptions to the rule, but it should not be used as a form of birth control or contraceptive.
@Declan B: I agree a sperm on its own is not life. Mixed with a egg it is.
@Martin O Connell: What an ign-orant uneducated comment. To even suggest a woman has an Abortion as form of contraception is vile and disg-usting. You have no comprehension whatsoever of the emotional distress any women has to go through to make this decision.
@Martin O Connell: Once it penetrates the wall of the egg its a life. But a second before that it’s not.
@Martin O Connell: ye do realise Martin yere being ridiculous here surely.
@mayo chicken: Statutory rape, unless you’re a republican senator. Then, it just seems to go away
@Franny Ando: Having lived in London for over 30 years sadly an awful lot of people do see it as a last form of contraception.
@John: sure you did ey. Sure isn’t it just something all women would do on a whim?! We’re desperate like that!
@Tom Mullally: there’s no such thing as an “unborn child”. It’s either born, or it isn’t. You can’t have it both ways, Tom.
@Tom Mullally: correct
@Declan B: it’s a human being
@Franny Ando: you are naive if you think it is never used as a form of birth control. It is used widely in many countries (think China) as such, though I’d say it’s very much the exception here.
@Martin O Connell: If conception has already happened then how is it a contraceptive?
@Jen McCartney: not all women Jen!!! Some do though.
@Franny Ando: plenty!!! not all though!!!! treat it as just another form of contraception. They hide behind the term it’s only a “foetus” we were all only a “foetus”. I’m not for banning terminations in scenarios such as health, rape, or incest. No right minded society would be, but as i say for the sake of inconvenience or use as another form of birth control I am very against it.
Abortion as a whole may be outlawed shortly in the states
I believe the supreme court are due to hear a case that will test Roe v Wade in the coming weeks
I’m old enough to remember PFIs, usually over a thousand a year before I left Ireland in the late 70s. These draconian laws do nothing to protect life. They always disproportionately impact the poor, and in the US, people of color. The authors and sponsors of these bills are usually male and/or religious politicians pandering to the evangelical far right. They have no interest in the health of women or children. Women will still find ways to procure abortions if they feel they have to. Those with means will have an easier time and those without will suffer most, back alley abortions, throwing themselves down stairs or bringing a child into the world under dire circumstances. A woman is the best person to decide what to do with her body.
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