Oxfam Sex Scandal in Haiti

[Caonabo]

Is it any wonder that in almost every review of a Haitian or Dominican hotel utilized by NGO's or other foreign "aid" agencies, they always make reference to the quality of the facility's pool, bar, and restaurant? I surmise that the average Haitian may never know for themselves, unless fortunate enough to one day be employed there.

 

[slowmo]

I understand that everyone involved with these organizations promises to behave like boy/girl scouts but after 4 pages of this thread, I have one question. Is prostitution legal in Haiti?

 

[Caonabo]

Misappropriating funds.
Embezzling funds.
Pilfering funds.
Swindling funds.
Stealing funds.
And tonight, people that those funds were collected for and allocated towards, go to sleep cold, hungry, and thirsty with no hope for a better tomorrow.

 

[Chirimoya]

Wait. Have you got any proof of any of the above? These are sweeping accusations that have nothing to do with reality, or based on isolated incidents in other organisations.

The people I worked with were dedicated and self-sacrificing. For example, when travelling - no alcohol (we could drink in our free time but were not allowed to claim it on expenses; meals also had to be within certain parameters) or any sort of luxuries but there is a need to ensure decent living conditions to ensure safety, health and security necessary for doing their jobs.

It is difficult for anyone in that environment to engage in criminal or unethical behaviour and remain unnoticed for long. Even in this case we are discussing, in 2011, their colleagues made sure it was not allowed to continue. How the organisation handled it was clumsy and wrong, but clearly a very difficult situation to deal with at the time.

 

[Caonabo]

Sooner or later, every NGO gets exposed for it's own under the table, behind closed doors, lampshades drawn dealings. Either by a whistleblower, a malcontent not receiving his/her perceived fair share, or the ever lurking investigative journalist looking for their own proper career elevating moment. This can not be denied, and is rather elementary indeed.
You make reference to the people you worked with being dedicated and self-sacrificing. I can not contest this, nor am I judging you or your specific time with the organization, but it obviously does not speak for everybody within such a large far reaching association.

 

[william webster]

I mentioned the Red Cross earlier
It was my daughter who spotted it in the UK

Here's the NPR article
Self Serving would be appropriate

$500 million built 6 houses------

https://www.npr.org/2016/06/16/4820...fundamental-concerns-about-red-cross-finances

 

[BermudaRum]

I understand that everyone involved with these organizations promises to behave like boy/girl scouts but after 4 pages of this thread, I have one question. Is prostitution legal in Haiti?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Haiti

Prostitution in Haiti
Prostitution in Haiti is illegal, but widespread, in the form of street prostitution (notably in the Pétion-Ville area of Port-au-Prince) and in bars, hotels & brothels.Law enforcement is generally lax.

The country used to be a premier destination in the 1970s for sex tourism for adults, including gay men.[4] Sex tourism declined because of HIV fears but has returned, including child sex tourism.

Haiti suffers from extreme poverty, with much of the population living on less than a dollar a day; those with no other resources often turn to prostitution.

After the 2010 earthquake, many prostitutes from the Dominican Republic crossed over the border, searching out clients amongst the aid workers and UN personal. Dominican women command a premium because of their lighter skin.

UN Peacekeeping Mission
Several hundred Sri Lankan troops, part of the UN mission, were expelled from the country in 2007. They were involved in trafficking Haitian girls to Sri Lanka and also being involved in child prostitution locally.
It was reported in 2010 that trafficked Dominican women had been found in brothels allegedly frequented by UN personnel.
In 2015 the UN reported that between 2008 and 2014, members of its peacekeeping mission had sexually abused more than 225 Haitian women in exchange for food, medication, and other items.
The UN has a zero-tolerance policy towards its personnel visiting the local sex trade, but this is virtually unenforceable.

 

[Caonabo]

The Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) is only one facet within the larger United Nations grand scheme. It is charged with the planning, preparation, management and direction of United Nations peacekeeping operations. This group has had their own share of historically documented improprieties.

 

[cobraboy]

The main complaint was how long it was taking for their cars to arrive from Africa.

Priorities.

And they were just Africans and cars from Africa.

 

[beachcomber]

I was speaking to a Canadian friend last week who has just got back from ,Haiti he has Friends with several Haitian families and sees both sides of the coin... He is not affiliated with an organisation .
He told me it was difficult to find a hotel for less than $250 a night which had some form of security for foreigners because all the hotels have tripled their prices now that they are catering to Aid workers no one cares how much it cost when they are on an expense account....

 

[beachcomber]

To me this is no news at all. There are prostitutes who make themselves available to foreigners in Haiti? That's hardly news - half the prostitutes in the DR come from Haiti. The girls who do this do so with the full knowledge of boyfriends, husbands and often families. The girls are not exploited, they are delighted to earn the money. There is terrible unemployment in Haiti and this is one way a girl can earn money to feed the inevitable children. And in the articles I have read, nowhere do I see that there is any evidence of underage girls being involved - just the word that it is a possibility. Hardly enough to call anyone guilty.

I'm not sure that passing money to Haitian prostitutes isn't one of the better ways to get money to the families in the street it seems to me a better option than the money being soaked up by the politicians or buying another Fleet of vehicles for the aid workers

 

[Naked_Snake]

Is his name Dagoberto Tejeda? 

50ish or 60ish (maybe older) with very long hair and a big dark spot on his forehead above one of his eyebrows.

I suspect she might be referring to Roldan Marmol (who, incidentally, looks like a Spanish Conquistador). In that case I agree with the charge of cultural appropiation, annoying as that SJW fad is.

 

[cobraboy]

Priorities.

And they were NOT just Africans and cars from Africa.

Edit to correct.

 

[Naked_Snake]

Sooner or later, every NGO gets exposed for it's own under the table, behind closed doors, lampshades drawn dealings. Either by a whistleblower, a malcontent not receiving his/her perceived fair share, or the ever lurking investigative journalist looking for their own proper career elevating moment. This can not be denied, and is rather elementary indeed.
You make reference to the people you worked with being dedicated and self-sacrificing. I can not contest this, nor am I judging you or your specific time with the organization, but it obviously does not speak for everybody within such a large far reaching association.

A good question to ask is if any NGO ever have solved a problem in the countries they have been posted in, cuz it is my impression as a layman that they are more often than not in the way for the hypothetical state in question ever doing so by its own. I have been a lurker in some Haitian forums for some time now, and if there is an issue in which they all seem to march lockstep in, is in their intense hatred/dislike of the NGOs' based in their country. Some have gone as far as putting them just as another racket with lots of influence, like the arms' lobby and big pharma, to put some examples.

 

[mountainannie]

Haiti is known as "the republic of NGOs" - and I think that one only has to look at the "success" of the rebuilding of Haiti after the earthquake vis a vis the amount of aid to see the effectiveness of foreign aid. 

I was a big supporter of it before I went to the DR. Now I will not give one thin dime. If one just thinks about it - what organization would really work to alleviate the very condition which is the reason for its own existence?

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/12/books/charity-that-strangles-the-poor.html

 

[mountainannie]

One of my favorite stories was of reading a list serv about how the FAO (food and agriculture of the UN) had - after about 3 years of investigation- FINALLY come up with a bean that could grow in Haiti. They issued a press release from their HQ in somewhere or other - like say Costa Rica? -- about the exhaustive research they had done - not to upset the delicate eco system , etc etc etc...

this announcement came at the same week as the bean farmers from Elias Pina were staging a protest about the lack of bagging and/or canning facilities up on the Haitian/Dominican border and how they were losing their bean crops because of it. The farmers had filled trucks with left over beans and drove them down the Santo Domingo and dumped them on the steps of the capital. Elias Pina is right on the Haitian border. 


 I really marveled at that one.

 

[Caonabo]

Some may find my assertions of NGO's to be a bit harsh. Undeniably, they are. Rightfully so. Let us view the words of Priti Patel.....
"These incidents (Haiti + Oxfam GB) were just the tip of the iceberg" and "there exists a culture of denial within the sector".
Sounds to be spot-on.

 

[mountainannie]

that is not to take away from the "good intentions" of those who work in the non profit field. They are some of the loveliest people I have met. Most of them do indeed believe that they are making a difference to better the lives of the people on the ground. And certainly there are programs here and there which do indeed really make a difference - the micro enterprise programs - the banking programs - there are indeed some programs - such as Fonkose in Haiti - that work. https://www.fonkoze.org 

 

[cobraboy]

Haiti is known as "the republic of NGOs" - and I think that one only has to look at the "success" of the rebuilding of Haiti after the earthquake vis a vis the amount of aid to see the effectiveness of foreign aid.

I was a big supporter of it before I went to the DR. Now I will not give one thin dime. If one just thinks about it - what organization would really work to alleviate the very condition which is the reason for its own existence?

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/12/books/charity-that-strangles-the-poor.html

If NGO's eliminate the problem they purport to fix, they eliminate their reason to exist. And *any* bureaucracy's Prime Directive is the protection of the bureaucracy before all else...

 

[cobraboy]

One of my favorite stories was of reading a list serv about how the FAO (food and agriculture of the UN) had - after about 3 years of investigation- FINALLY come up with a bean that could grow in Haiti. They issued a press release from their HQ in somewhere or other - like say Costa Rica? -- about the exhaustive research they had done - not to upset the delicate eco system , etc etc etc...

this announcement came at the same week as the bean farmers from Elias Pina were staging a protest about the lack of bagging and/or canning facilities up on the Haitian/Dominican border and how they were losing their bean crops because of it. The farmers had filled trucks with left over beans and drove them down the Santo Domingo and dumped them on the steps of the capital. Elias Pina is right on the Haitian border. 


 I really marveled at that one.

But think of all the jobs, political loyalties and padded expense accounts were created for those three years of "research."

The UN may be the most corrupt, inefficient bureaucracy on the planet. Even Jimah Cahtah would have had beans planted in just a few weeks.