Want to understand... #4 The Oxfam scandal

Hello guys!

Today I just want to talk to you about an actual issue that I find truly interesting: the humanitarian crisis. You certainly have heard of the event because it has shocked a lot of people. A mission manager in Haïti (after the earthquake of 2010) would have committed some prostitutes in a house that Oxfam was renting for that. It is quite astonishing that these facts only appear now, while apparently, it was a well-known case internally. In fact, it happens in 2011. Some articles even talk about "Oxfam workers having fixed-price sexual relations with survivors of the earthquake in Haiti". This scandal also revealed some numbers: apparently, there are a lot of things like that that are reported for humanitarian organizations.

I have had for the first time some difficulties to understand why and how a humanitarian organization could accomplish such things. Like we all know that soldiers did that in wars and that it was a widespread practice at the time, but here it is with people that are supposed to help people in disaster relief areas. And why anybody did not say anything during all that time? That is why I find interesting to write an article to share with you my researches on the subject!

When you look more closely at the actual humanitarian system you see clearly that there are some issues.

1° Too many actors

The case of Haiti is a great case. A lot of donations have been made, and a huge number of organizations came on the ground to help save people, participate in the rebuilding of Haiti,... Haiti was seen as a "the paradise of the help". More than the half of the American population gives money away to Haiti. For the bigger organizations (like Oxfam), they have a list of objectives to rebuild Haiti, but when we look closer now you see that none of these objectives have been realized. They are not so organized, and all these diverse organizations need one thing: a greater centralization of the help, to prevent the actual situation where everyone works on its side, without caring about making some main and common objectives.

2° "The white rescuer"

Africa has always been seen as a set for the heroism fantasies for the white people. According to an American author, Teju Cole, there is a "complex of the white savior". By saying that, he denounces the fact that the support accorded to the humanitarian help (money, physical,...) is nothing else than a way to satisfy their emotional needs. It can be a factor of what happened in 2011: in general, the international personnel is better paid than the ones that stay in their countries: its disequilibrium can have an effect on how these people see themselves, they can easily have the impression that they can do anything they want on the ground: it is them that have the money. It should also change the vision that we have from African people in disadvantaged zones in general: they are not just "victims", they are humans and they must be treated as anyone else in the world.

And the consequences?

As you can imagine, the 2011 event in Haiti has a great impact on the public opinion. A risk is that people, governments,... can decide to reduce their donations. And it is totally understandable. These people can have the impression that their money is used to abuse other people, while they were giving away their money for helping them. But it will be totally unfair and reckless. I think that it is mostly the old, bureaucratic and unbalanced system of humanitarian organizations that should be put in question, in the same way that the recruitment criteria in these organizations. Non-governmental organizations remain fragile structures. You have to remember that in some terrible situations, their help is vital and must not be deleted or depreciated.

I hope this article helps you understand the situation of humanitarian organizations today!