Charity aid Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is facing allegations of sexual misconduct as the aid workers are accused of using prostitutes during assignments in Africa. The female whistleblowers have told BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire about the practice.

Keeping their identities anonymous, the women mentioned in the programme that the behaviour of the aid workers was “blatant” and “widespread” among logistical staff. One of the former employees, who worked out of the charity’s London office, said she had seen a senior member of staff bring girls back to MSF accommodation while posted in Kenya.

She told the BBC, “The girls were very young and rumoured to be prostitutes,” adding that it was “implicit” that they were there for sex. The whistleblower also claimed they felt unable to challenge the man “because he was quite senior”. She said, “I felt that, with some of the older guys, there was definitely an abuse of power. They’d been there for a long time and took advantage of their exalted status as a Western aid worker.“

“There’s definitely a feeling that certain predatory men were seen as too big to fail.” Another female employee, who worked with HIV patients in central Africa, claimed that the use of local sex workers was “widespread”. She said, “There was an older colleague who actually moved a woman into the compound [where MSF staff were staying].” She added, “It was pretty obvious she was a prostitute but he called her his girlfriend and she would spend night after night with him. This kind of thing was so blatant. So blatant and widespread.”

The whistleblower said she also felt sexually harassed by some of the men she worked with. She said, “[One colleague] really made my life miserable. He really tortured me and brought prostitutes back in front of me. The worst bit came when I left for a few weeks and came back to my room and found used condoms that he told people he’s deliberately left behind. I felt sick.” The woman said she had reported his behaviour to her boss in the field and had been offered mediation, but had also been told she would be fired if she did not sort things out with her colleague.

A third whistle-blower described how a senior colleague boasted of trading medication for sex with girls in Ebola-hit Liberia. “He was suggesting lots of the young girls who had lost their parents to the Ebola crisis, that they would do anything sexual in return for medication.” The BBC, however, said it had not been able to verify the allegation.

Executive Director of MSF UK Vickie Hawkins said the organisation has reporting mechanisms in place where complaints can be made, but “we know we need to do more to ensure that they are known, trusted and used by the people who need them.”

H/T: BBC