Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Response - Reasons For Few Complaints

Reasons For Few Complaints

Two 2008 studies have pointed out that disaster survivors who have been sexually exploited (or abused) by aid workers often do not complain. Save the Children explains the lack of complaints thus:

• Children (and adults) are inadequately supported to speak out about abuse against them.
• The international community does not exercise strong-enough leadership or managerial courage on this issue.
• There is a lack of investment in child protection by governments and donors.

On 25 June 2008 the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International (HAP) released a report on sexual exploitation and abuse, "To complain or not to complain: still the question." This report includes details for three countries in which consultations were held. It concludes:

Sexual exploitation and abuse is a predictable result of a failure of accountability to beneficiaries of humanitarian aid. The single most important reason for this ‘humanitarian accountability deficit’ is the asymmetrical principal-agent relations that characterise most ‘humanitarian’ transactions, that puts the users of humanitarian assistance at a structural disadvantage in their relationship with humanitarian aid providers.