Plan International confirms six cases of sexual abuse

A children’s aid charity has this morning confirmed six cases of sexual abuse and child exploitation by staff or associates.

Plan International said five of the cases leaked last night, which took place between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017, were reported to authorities in the countries involved.

The charity said it was ‘truly sorry’ for the horrendous abuses adding that none of those involved – one staff member and five associates – were British.  

A children’s aid charity has confirmed six cases of sexual abuse and child exploitation by staff or associates. Plan International said five of the cases leaked last night, which took place between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017, were reported to authorities in the countries involved (stock image)

In the same period the charity, which receives £6 million a year in government funding, also confirmed there were nine incidents of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct by its staff. 

Seven staff members were fired dismissals while two others, whose misconducted amounted to the use of inappropriate language, were given a warning. 

The charity said all incidents involved adults following the admission prompted by a Daily Telegraph report. 

Plan International delivers aid to more than 50 countries with the aim of improving access to nutrition, shelter and education. While it also works to prevent female genital mutilation and child marriages.   

They said in a statement: ‘Sadly no organisation, including Plan International, is immune from abuses of power. 

‘From 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017, we had 6 confirmed cases of sexual abuse and exploitation of children by staff or associates. 

The charity said it was 'truly sorry' for the horrendous abuses adding that none of those involved - one staff member and five associates - were British (Plan International HQ, Woking)

The charity said it was ‘truly sorry’ for the horrendous abuses adding that none of those involved – one staff member and five associates – were British (Plan International HQ, Woking)

‘One involved a staff member and the other 5 were associates. The staff member was dismissed without a reference and contracts of associates were terminated. 

‘Five out of the total 6 cases were of a criminal nature in the local contexts and were reported to the local authorities. In all cases we linked victims and families with local support networks including but not limited to medical and psychosocial support.’

The charity added that it would: ‘Strengthen the safeguards we have in place and introduce new systems and procedures to weed out sexual abuse and exploitation.’

The admission comes a day after it was announced Oxfam Great Britain has been suspended in Haiti pending investigation into how the charity handled the case of former staff paying for sex

The admission comes a day after it was announced Oxfam Great Britain has been suspended in Haiti pending investigation into how the charity handled the case of former staff paying for sex

The admission comes a day after it was announced Oxfam Great Britain has been suspended in Haiti pending investigation into how the charity handled the case of former staff paying for sex.

The aid group said senior members of staff met officials from the Haiti government on Thursday and pledged their commitment to cooperating with the probe.

The two-month suspension comes after charity chiefs revealed Oxfam has received 26 allegations of misconduct since the Haiti sex scandal erupted two weeks ago. 

On Thursday, Oxfam GB said: ‘The government of Haiti announced today that it will suspend Oxfam Great Britain’s operation in the country for two months, while it investigates how Oxfam GB handled the case of former staff having paid for sex during the agency’s humanitarian response in 2011.’  

While earlier this week Justin Forsyth, a senior British Unicef official, resigned after admitting that the allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him when he ran Save the Children UK risked damaging aid for Unicef. 



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