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Actress Minnie Driver steps down as Oxfam ambassador over Haiti scandal

| | Feb 14, 2018, at 03:29 pm

Los Angeles, Feb 14 (IBNS): In a major move since revelations of sexual abuse by aid workers in Haiti, actress Minnie Driver has stepped down as the ambassador of UK-based charity Oxfam.

This follows claims that staff for the charity in Haiti and other countries paid vulnerable people for sex, BBC reported.

Minnie said the revelation left her devastated.

"All I can tell you about this awful revelation about Oxfam is that I am devastated.Devastated for the women who were used by people sent there to help them, devastated by the response of an organization that I have been raising awareness for since I was 9 years old #oxfamscandal," she tweeted.

As the scandal emerged, Penny Lawrence has resigned as Deputy Chief Executive of Oxfam Great Britain.

Lawrence said: “I am deeply sad to announce that I have resigned as Deputy Chief Executive of Oxfam Great Britain."

“Over the last few days we have become aware that concerns were raised about the behavior of staff in Chad as well as Haiti that we failed to adequately act upon. It is now clear that these allegations - involving the use of prostitutes and which related to behavior of both the Country Director and members of his team in Chad - were raised before he moved to Haiti," Penny said.

“As program director at the time, I am ashamed that this happened on my watch and I take full responsibility," Penny said.

“I am desperately sorry for the harm and distress that this has caused to Oxfam’s supporters, the wider development sector and most of all the vulnerable people who trusted us," said Penny.

Lawrence joined Oxfam Great Britain in February 2006 as Program Director.

She became Deputy Chief Executive of Oxfam Great Britain in 2016.

Oxfam International Executive Director Winnie Byanyima called the entire revelation as 'shocking'.

"This is shocking. This is appalling. It hurts me very deeply. A few privileged men who had the opportunity to serve Oxfam were abusing the very people they were meant to protect," she was quoted as saying in a tweet posted by Oxfam International.

 

Image: Wikimedia Commons


 

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