The news that Oxfam staff used prostitutes in Haiti has led to renewed focus on how the aid sector works, and what measures are in place to prevent abuse by aid workers.
Headlines like "Oxfam faces new sex scandal in South Sudan" are certainly not flattering, and they come at a time when many countries are debating cutting foreign aid.
How does this square with the more standard view of an aid worker: the selfless humanitarian who works in the most difficult conditions in order to improve the lives of the most vulnerable?
Of course, there are no perfect saints, and probably no perfect sinners either, in any organisation.
But the UN, which regularly uses organisations like Oxfam as implementing partners, is now struggling with a problem many suggest it should have addressed more publically decades ago.
How will the Haiti scandal affect Oxfam?
How much UK charity money goes to Oxfam?
Oxfam did not disclose 'full Haiti details'
This week in Geneva, UN aid agencies took care to express their zero tolerance approach to sexual abuse.
"Every single report or allegation of sexual exploitation, harassment, or abuse is thoroughly assessed," said Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency. "If substantiated it leads to sanctions and summary dismissal."
Source: BBC NEWS
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