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THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE of the Red Cross has said more than 20 staffers have left the organisation since 2015 after “paying for sexual services,” as it called for change in a humanitarian sector facing “a watershed moment”.
Following reports of sexual misconduct involving aid workers across multiple agencies, the secretary general of the ICRC, Yves Daccord, said the Geneva-based organisation had conducted a thorough internal review.
“I have instructed my teams to scour the data we do have on sexual misconduct, and I can tell you that since 2015 we’ve identified 21 staff members who were either dismissed for paying for sexual services or resigned during an internal enquiry,” Daccord said in a statement sent to AFP.
Two others did not have their contracts renewed over similar circumstances, he added, explaining that the decentralised nature of the organisation with 17,000 staff worldwide made it difficult to compile figures.
‘Cultural shift’
Unlike crisis-hit British charity Oxfam, which did not explicitly bar its employees from hiring prostitutes, the ICRC has forbidden “the purchase of sexual services” since 2006, even in places where prostitution is legal, Daccord explained.
He voiced concern that a number of incidents have not been reported, or reported cases were mishandled, and vowed the ICRC was working to address the problem.
Broadly, the ICRC needed to “acknowledge the cultural shift required for the organisation,” Daccord said.
“This is a watershed moment for the humanitarian sector as a whole. We owe it to the people we serve to behave with absolute integrity.”
The ICRC disclosures follow revelations that Oxfam was investigating 26 cases of sexual misconduct since a crisis erupted over its handling of a scandal involving prostitution in Haiti.
Three of Oxfam’s senior leaders have apologised for the charity’s handling of an internal investigation into the hiring of prostitutes by staff in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake.
UNICEF’s deputy director Justin Forsyth resigned following complaints of inappropriate behavior towards female staff in his previous post as head of British charity Save The Children.
It has also emerged that there were six confirmed cases of child sexual abuse and child exploitation by staff or associates of the Plan International charity.
The charity said five of the cases, which took place between July 2016 and June 2017, were reported to the authorities in the countries involved.
“Five out of the total six cases were of a criminal nature in the local contexts and were reported to the local authorities,” it said in a statement.
Plan International said that in the same period, there were nine confirmed incidents of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct by staff, resulting in seven dismissals. The other two staff whose misconduct amounted to use of inappropriate language, were given a warning.
- © AFP 2018 with reporting by Michelle Hennessy.
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As soon as we start looking at the profit margin all ‘care’ goes out the window.
@Patricia Davies: As soon as we start looking at the profit margin all ‘care’ goes out the window.
@Con O’Driscoll: Note to self: I’ve got to be nice to my future daughters- in-law. I fear the alternatives.
@Patricia Davies: Ever hear of people before profit? you should vote for them.
The fear of getting old, how could a ‘carer’ do these things
@Con O’Driscoll: because they’re criminally understaffed and stressed up to the eyeballs
… not excusing these despicable actions.
@shanekeogh: happens to old people at home even more often I’d say. Saw it myself with my grandfather..
@Eyepopper: People who will abuse and neglect those to whom they have a duty of care towards, will do so regardless of poor staffing levels.
@Misanthrope: What did you do about this?
@Hans Vos: ambushed him coming out of the toilet, strangled him unconcious, threw him down the stairs and kicked the f**K out of him.
What do we expect? Our value systems are f#cked. “Things” carry a higher price tag than “love” and “care”.
@Dave Bruen: If it’s about any “value system” it’s about the individual value system. It’s about how we each deal with anger, impatience, pressure, stress etc etc. Don’t push it out to the wider sphere when it is actually only about ouselves.
Every time I see an article about care homes or nursing homes it is about abuse or something along those lines, of course it is disgraceful that these things can happen and there needs to be harsh sentences put on those who do commit any kind of absue or neglect towards a vunerable person, but, this kind of thing leads people to brush all care homes and care workers with the same brush.
I just want people to remember that it is not all like this, there are some people out there working in very difficult conditions, who are understaffed and have to deal with residents who have very complex physical and cognitive disabilities and they do everything that they can for these people. There is not abuse and/or neglect happening in all facilities but unfortunately people hear these horrible individual cases and forget about the larger percentage of places and people caring for the vunerable who go above and beyond their role in caring for these individuals.
And also, sadly I need to respond to those saying that they would never put their parent or loved one in a care home, it is easy to say now but sadly, for many people there is no choice but to entrust their loved ones care in to such facilities because of how complex and difficult some illnesses can progress. Do you not think that the vast amount of elderly/disabled people in these facilities have loving family members who possibly said the exact same thing until that day came when the harsh reality kicked it?
It is a sad thought but sadly it is true.
@Pamiela Suutari: very well said. 18 months ago I gave up my job to care for my parents, while I knew eventually there would come a time I would no longer be able to look after my Dad this happened recently and unexpectedly, I am heart broken but am now finally accepting my fathers care is out of my hands, for me it wasn’t my decision for Dad to go in to long term care it was the health service from which he is getting excellent care. When I explained to Dad I could no longer care for him he hugged me and said he was expecting this and it’s ok, a lot of tears have fallen but I know I am lucky as I’m in my late 40’s and Dad is nearly 80, I am also lucky I could look after him this last year and a half as many people are not in a position to do so.
“care homes”
@Fiona deFreyne: Sometimes I squeeze my own face as I find it lets my imagination run wild, but I’d never do it to someone else.
@Fiona deFreyne: no accountability whatsoever in this kip
@Fiona deFreyne: most of them are excellent. The millions of kind and thoughtful acts aren’t newsworthy. It’s a common misconception that the news is representative – it’s not.
An inquiry into an investigation is whats needed!
Well as long as I have breath in my body my parents will NEVER be in a ‘care home’. I will move mountains to care for them myself.
@Alison Maguire: You say that now and I believe you mean it, but it’s not always the best option for you or them.
@Alison Maguire: i agree with u. I care for my husband who has dementia and ive promised myself that he’ll never go into a care home. I love him too much and i hope i can fulfil this promise.
@Alison Maguire: and that’s a very admirable statement. But what if your parents become aggressive to you/other vulnerable family
members due to a medical condition? Do you think that you could sit back and watch or let that happen? Staff in care homes are highly trained to deal with these situations and have the knowledge and skill to deescalate them. Please don’t tar all care homes with the same brush, and similarly, all care staff.
Between my 2 grandparents they have been in 5 different care homes. 2 were HSE run 3 were private. Spanning over a period of 6 years in my opinion the level of care in the HSE run care homes is far superior to the private ones on every level.
A lot of these “Care Homes “advertise themselves as “family run “,so is the Mafia,but it is usually run by a Doctor and his wife also a Health Care professional and it is a business. We all know this , abuse will occur especially when the real carers are underpaid persons with a high workload and antisocial hours.
The Establishment have private insurance plans for their people,,The majority ,whose parents did not or more likely could not make provisions for their old age .are farmed out by the HSE to these businesses ,The redactions in the information supplied is a good indicator that this is only the tip of the iceberg.Your Family,your responsibility
@Brian O Reilly: It is only the tip of the iceberg. Another area that needs to be looked at is home care provision. I would say to anyone who has a family member with a home care package to observe what the package is for and compare to what is actually being provided. Eye opening….
@Patricia Davies: Spot on Patricia, Care home owners need to be challenged as the charges are excessive and simply profit focused. Areas like activities for residents seriously needs to be addressed. Lip service is given in most cases to tick the inspection boxes during official inspections. Most are happy if residents watch day time TV all the time and without control of the remote. Rooms often have tiny TVs that elderly residents cannot see properly.
Old people batterers who forgot they’ll be old themselves too in a later life……and all nursing homes must be equipped with CCTVs to stop them battering defenceless old people……S H A M E!
@Thosj Carroll: you’re not allowed to put CCTV in bed or bathrooms due to privacy regulations.
In how many instances were reports made to An Garda Siochana or even steps taken to investigate in line with the Trust In Care Policy?
@A McGuckin: Not to mention care home helpers, helping themselves to residents personal items and cash. Personal experience of such a ‘helper’ who took cheques from the back of my Parent’s chequebook, was caught after hundreds had been taken, yet another member of family didn’t see the point of pressing charges as it might reflect badly on the nursing home and he didn’t want the owners being dragged into anything. This worker lost her job, but still is working in the industry.
@Father Hody Commody: Shameful. Did you report it to the Gardai? There’s been several incidents of financial abuse such as you described. Know of one case were a staff member helped themselves to substantial monies in a residents comfort account and the provider was very reluctant to refund the resident the monies that were stolen.
Care homes often have wonderful people as helpers / carers / assistants but the management / owners are focused on profit. Staff are generally paid a minimum wage for a specialised job and this does nothing to allow staff to grow their jobs into a career and something they like doing. Profiteering and massive profits has to be tackled at Government level.
So ,you’ve done your duty and visited your elderly relative this Christmas,ask yourself could you not wait to get the F out of there ,
All those sleeping,slumping,farting ,dribbling,wrinkles in chairs propped up with cushions ,in front of a television with the pictures on,no sound,That’s you one day ,you’ve got to fight to improve the level of Health provision now,I thought I’d appeal to your caring nature.
Hello everyone, I am as annoyed about this as most others. I noticed the comments are all about profit margins well you have heard the saying you get what you paid for. you are correct nursing homes profits are huge so is the cost of running them. But please hear this, I am a qualified social care worker with a level 8 in Applied Social Care in Social Studies, that means I spent 4 years studying just like a nurse or a teacher would do. However, I applied for a job as a home care assistant care of the older person, and I was turned down by 4 agencies and here is the reason why. The level of education required by agencies is a level 5 in care of the older person. Which can be acquired on a part-time basis over 6 months.
The regulation of the social care was due to take place in 2010 but that did not happen, it was estimated in the early 2000′s that the required number of social care workers by 2025 would be 25,000 people. In order to meet that need, social care workers were instructed to have a minimum of a level 8 and to register with CORU the social care registration authority, this plan was to ensure we had fully quality care workers that have achieved a level of education and have been in an environment that has been monitored and assessed over a four year period for their suitability to be a care worker of vulnerable people, be they children, disabled or the elderly. If the social care register was fully implemented all care workers employed today would have to meet the level 8 requirements and not a level 5. It costs more money to pay a level 8 worker than it does it pay a level 5 worker. And from experience, they do not challenge anyone on poor practice or incompetencies. You will get what you paid for in the end of the day. When you bring your child to school you expect a professionally trained teacher or go to the hospital you get a fully trained nurse they are also registered and paid an agreed rate. But society has not caught up yet with qualified social care workers as a profession the longer this goes on the more vulnerable people will be abused. The abuse in social care is mind-blowing, it is so bad I do not work in social care as I only end up in trouble for challenging problems, abuse, and dysfunctional practice, this all comes down to cost, Minister Simon Harris will not fully implement the social care sector in one action he has pushed the date out further, so all of us will be subjected to sub-standard in social care. I work on a voluntary basis with an older adults advocacy group together we try to challenge problems for older people and again it is very easy to be excluded simply because people do not what to hear what needs to be said.
@Noreen Waters: That is unbelievable Noreen. Over the past few years we have seen this huge drive for QQI Level 5 care assistants but what does that actually equate to in practice? There are many excellent care assistants but they are answerable to those who are just interested in taking all the clients the HSE can push their way. We are now talking about profit over quality. There is a huge difference between having a business like this because you innately care about what you do and whom for versus you just need a business.
@Noreen Waters: HCA’s can either possess or be working towards level 5 awards under HIQA regs. So they may not necessarily even have any qualifications.
@Noreen Waters: a higher level education is all well and good but a level 5 person could just be as good a carer as a level 8. More pay does not guarantee better care imo. Everyone regardless of education should be monitored and assessed continually to ensure they are up for the job. They should also be supported in their roles. I understand that you must be peed off that your education has not guaranteed you the job you expected to get but as i’ve already said, people who did not get a degree could be just as suited or even better. A good friend of mine comes to mind. she did a pre nursing course with the idea of going to college but got a job in a nursing home and is a brilliant, caring, conscientious individual who cares greatly for the people in her care. She is on minimum wage.
Terrible treatment of OAP,s.
God help if anyone ever did this to my mother or father.
The worst part of all this is the actual prices of a room per week. Average price per week in most Cork places range from 800(which are very rare) to 2500 a week. Unless your a professional footballer many normal people would struggle to pay this. Where is all that money going?? Level of care is usually standard. I mean not same level family members would give but usually it’s good.
My Mother was in a care home in Clane. The very young, care assistants were grossly underpaid and overworked. The rotten apples are at the top (mostly) One of our family visited every day but she was still regularly bruised and frightened all the time. They ‘Evicted’ her for agitation. She is now happy & comfortable in a HSE care facility. HIQA can do little or nothing about these private places. The latest inspection on the private home in Clane shows 6 Non Compliance with regulations, 3 of those critical.
Mayo people doing it to Mayo people
As a carer for my sister who has downs syndrome, and a user of Respite care services, my experience is that the staff are generally excellent and very caring. Just as well though because id literally bury anyone who laid a hand on my sister. Given the sentences that those animals from Aras Attracta got, the law is an ass.
@Paul Whitehead: Here here !!! Anyone touches my son and there would be a queue of people waiting to sort them out !!
Pay peanuts and you get monkeys
@Gus Sheridan: Not fair comment on some of the wonderful people who work in this industry. Sadly its the apes at the top who only pay out minimal wages and grab the profits for themselves
Hashtag porter too!
I am a staff nurse working in nursing homes for last 10 years and witnessed lot of elder abuses with in this period.I worked in a famous nursing home for 8 years and witnessed several incidents of elder abuse and medication errors.each time I reported , I am penalised.medication errors are reported to management and nothing happened and they hide these medication incident reports during inspections.Last time when I witnessed an elder abuse ,I reported it to the management with evidence and on next day I am suspended from my job.after that I joined another nursing home and is working there for last 2 years .I am happy in the new nursing home and never witnessed an elder abuse.For reporting an elder abuse in the old nursing home I am suspended for 4 months and I was on stress leave for another 4 months.I resigned my job as I again witnessed elder abuse and no action was taken against the staff involved.now the case is in court.anyway I am happy and has job satisfaction in the new nursing home.I think government has to support the staff who is reporting elder abuses in nursing homes and have to take strict actions against those who involve in elder abuse cases.
I am a staff nurse working in nursing homes for last 10 years and witnessed lot of elder abuses with in this period.I worked in a famous nursing home for 8 years and witnessed several incidents of elder abuse and medication errors.each time I reported , I am penalised.medication errors are reported to management and nothing happened and they hide these medication incident reports during inspections.Last time when I witnessed an elder abuse ,I reported it to the management with evidence and on next day I am suspended from my job.after that I joined another nursing home and is working there for last 2 years .I am happy in the new nursing home and never witnessed an elder abuse.For reporting an elder abuse in the old nursing home I am suspended for 4 months and I was on stress leave for another 4 months.I resigned my job as I again witnessed elder abuse and no action was taken against the staff involved.now the case is in court.anyway I am happy and has job satisfaction in the new nursing home.I think government has to support the staff who is reporting elder abuses in nursing homes and have to take strict actions against those who involve in elder abuse cases.
have your say