The wording “director used prostitute” is derogative against sex workers and their place in society. If the business relationship was an exchange of sex against money, the term would be “director hired prostitutes” or “used the services provided by” or simply “had sex with”.
In the Newsletter it says “Oxfam says Haiti director admitted using prostitutes “.
The scandal here is that people funded by the UK (government) were paying for sex with locals.
I am interested to know whether this has ever happened in other contexts, or is Oxfam being singled out unfairly? For example, are there any known examples of UK Forces personnel paying for sex while abroad? Or UK trade missions? Or UK embassy staff?
I hope Oxfam isn’t being expected to hold up a higher standard of morality than other organisations…
Thanks for your reply, Angela. Since the scandal is expanding further, especially in light of new reports against Oxfam staff in Asia (BBC report here: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43060802) that we should start a WikiProject about abuse in the aid sector?
Fair point – it would be very surprising if diplomats and soldiers had never paid for sex while on post. It’s relevant if prostitution is legal in the particular country (for example, Australia, although the situation is not uniform across the states).
We are hoping to get together a piece on moral standards expected of aid organisations. I haven’t actually read any, but presume these will soon be appearing in other media, so we have to beat them if possible.
The wording “director used prostitute” is derogative against sex workers and their place in society. If the business relationship was an exchange of sex against money, the term would be “director hired prostitutes” or “used the services provided by” or simply “had sex with”.
In the Newsletter it says “Oxfam says Haiti director admitted using prostitutes “.
Hi Leo, thanks for your suggestion, we’ve just changed the wording.
The scandal here is that people funded by the UK (government) were paying for sex with locals.
I am interested to know whether this has ever happened in other contexts, or is Oxfam being singled out unfairly? For example, are there any known examples of UK Forces personnel paying for sex while abroad? Or UK trade missions? Or UK embassy staff?
I hope Oxfam isn’t being expected to hold up a higher standard of morality than other organisations…
Penny Mordaunt, the DFID secretary, has said that the government has written to many charity agencies: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/oxfam-haiti-prostitutes-allegations-latest-penny-mourdant-international-development-secretary-moral-a8205311.html
Additionally, I think this particular story should focus solely on the Oxfam scandal, since it is bigger than first expected.
Thanks Sarah. We half-expect there’ll be revelations from other organisations. What is at point is how they handled misbehavior.
Thanks for your reply, Angela. Since the scandal is expanding further, especially in light of new reports against Oxfam staff in Asia (BBC report here: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43060802) that we should start a WikiProject about abuse in the aid sector?
Fair point – it would be very surprising if diplomats and soldiers had never paid for sex while on post. It’s relevant if prostitution is legal in the particular country (for example, Australia, although the situation is not uniform across the states).
We are hoping to get together a piece on moral standards expected of aid organisations. I haven’t actually read any, but presume these will soon be appearing in other media, so we have to beat them if possible.