The deputy chief executive of Oxfam, Penny Lawrence, has resigned over the involvement of the British charity group’s workers in a prostitution scandal in Haiti after the 2010 devastating earthquake as well as in Chad.
“As program director at the time, I am ashamed that this happened on my watch and I take full responsibility,” Lawrence said in a statement on Monday.
She added that increasing concerns over the behavior of staff in Chad and Haiti in recent days showed “that we failed adequately to act upon.”
She added that the sexual misconduct allegations were first raised against some Oxfam staff in an earlier mission in Chad.
“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,” Lawrence said.
The charity group has apologized unreservedly for misconduct allegations against staff members…