Oxfam HK Seeks To Distance Itself From Sex Scandal

Oxfam Hong Kong said on Wednesday that it has stopped funding any projects managed by Oxfam Great Britain, as it seeks to distance itself from a growing sex scandal.

The charity's bosses in Britain have apologised after some aid workers were accused of paying women for sex in Haiti following the earthquake in the country in 2010, while staff who tried to expose the exploitation are said to have been threatened into keeping quiet.

The Hong Kong arm of the charity says it has already lost 700 regular donors since the scandal broke.

But Oxfam Hong Kong’s director-general, Trini Leung, said the SAR's branch of the charity is an independently registered legal entity and donations made in the territory don't go directly to the operations in Britain.

She said Oxfam Hong Kong spends an average of about 30 to 40 percent of its donations on international programmes which it selects specifically, and they include those directly managed by Oxfam Great Britain in countries like Bangladesh and Tanzania.

“When we want to support an anti-poverty project in that country, we look around to see who are the best executing affiliates of Oxfam who manage those projects. That’s how we make grants to projects which are managed by Oxfam Great Britain,” said Leung.

But she said they have stopped passing money to their colleagues in Britain in the wake of the scandal and will only resume funding after they are given reassurances that higher standards will be imposed on British staff.

“We want to see these reassurances in any new grants we will make to support anti-poverty projects around the world,” she told RTHK's Frances Sit.

But Leung also said that the scandal only involves a small number of staff and added that Oxfam Great Britain usually has very high standards when it comes to financial control and programme quality.