Red Cross finds 21 cases of sexual misconduct in last three years

More than 20 employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross have left the organisation for sexual misconduct since 2015, the humanitarian institution said.

The ICRC director general, Yves Daccord, said 21 staff members were either dismissed or resigned for paying for sexual services in the last three years. Another two workers suspected of sexual misconduct did not have their contracts renewed at the Geneva-based organisation.

The announcement follows an internal review of sexual misconduct cases at the ICRC, and Daccord said there may be outstanding incidents that were not reported or correctly handled.

The ICRC head described the behaviour as “a betrayal of the people and the communities we are there to serve”, and said it was “against human dignity”.

The purchase of sexual services by ICRC workers has been contractually banned in the organisation’s code of conduct since 2006.

“I must also accept that this is a moment of deep humility for us, as we endeavour to assess the scope of this problem and address failings,” Daccord said.

“It is so important that the silence that has surrounded this issue has been shattered. This is a watershed moment for the humanitarian sector as a whole. We owe it to the people we serve to behave with absolute integrity.”

Sexual abuse scandals have been revealed at several aid organisations after the Times newspaper reported Oxfam had tried to hide the use of prostitutes by staff in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

On Thursday, the Haitian government temporarily suspended the charity from working in the Caribbean country while an investigation into their handling of sexual misconduct allegations takes place.

Oxfam GB is one of 22 charities that have since pledged to boost safeguarding and have called on people to report unacceptable behaviour.

In an open letter published on the Huffington Post website, the agencies said there could be no tolerance for “the abuse of power, privilege or trust” within their organisations, and said they were “truly sorry” their sector had sometimes failed.

Mark Goldring, Oxfam GB’s chief executive, signed the letter, which said charities had an “absolute duty” to do everything possible to “prevent, detect and eradicate unacceptable behaviour”.

“We will collectively review our current referencing systems so that people found to have abused their power or behaved inappropriately are not re-employed in the sector – including in INGOs [international non-governmental organisations], government agencies, the UN and other associated bilateral and domestic agencies,” it said.

“We will work with these authorities and regulatory bodies to ensure any individual caught abusing their power cannot do so again.”

Other charities that signed the letter included Save the Children UK, Unicef UK, Muslim Aid, Cafod, Christian Aid, WaterAid and Plan International UK.

Plan International UK has apologised after revealing six cases of sexual abuse and exploitation of children between 1 July 2016 and 30 June last year.

One involved a staff member of the charity, while the other five were volunteers or from partner organisations.

“The staff member was dismissed without a reference, and contracts of volunteers or partner organisations were terminated. Five out of the total six cases were of a criminal nature and were reported to the local authorities,” a statement said.

In the same period, there were nine confirmed incidents of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct by staff against other adults, which resulted in seven dismissals.

The other two staff, whose misconduct constituted use of inappropriate language, were given a warning.