The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
London, United Kingdom | AFP | British actress Minnie Driver quit her role as an Oxfam ambassador late Tuesday, saying she was “devastated” by the charity’s response to a sex scandal involving its aid workers.
Driver was the first celebrity to quit the global charity as accusations over staff paying for prostitutes during crises widened.
“All I can tell you about this awful revelation about Oxfam is that I am devastated,” the Oscar-nominated actress wrote on Twitter.
“Devastated for the women who were used by people sent there to help them, devastated by the response of an organisation that I have been raising awareness for since I was nine years old.”
A spokesperson for the charity said Driver’s decision “saddens us deeply, but we also understand and respect her choice,” according to a statement quoted by The Telegraph newspaper.
Oxfam has denied a cover-up over the use of prostitutes by senior aid workers in Haiti following the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake.
Since the scandal first broke last week further allegations have been made about the organisation’s mishandling of sexual assault in South Sudan.
Oxfam deputy chief Penny Lawrence resigned on Monday in the wake of the scandal, while the British government has called the charity to account for its actions.
I think it’s a very sad day when we let a few bad apples spoil all of the good work that charities such as @Oxfam do around the world. And this just feels like pandering to the media.
— Russ (@RussBroom) February 13, 2018
Pandering to the media? I have worked with Oxfam almost exclusively on the rights and plight of women in developing countries. Women who HAVE to supplement their factory/manual labor with sex work. There are NGO’s who do not cover up the egregious abuses of their employees. https://t.co/Zx9MX0oG3g
— Minnie Driver (@driverminnie) February 13, 2018
Did you read the article? They brought women to the official residence-paid for by project money. They used Oxfam vehicles to transport the women to sex parties they organized -paid for by project money. They coerced women to have sex in exchange for aid- aid equals project money
— Kristiana Bruneau (@GumptionAndCo) February 13, 2018
