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href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/feb/13/ngo-crimes-go-far-beyond-oxfam">https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/feb/13/ngo-crimes-go-far-beyond-oxfam</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">NGO crimes go far beyond Oxfam</h1>
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<div id="reader-estimated-time">February 13, 2018<br>
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Figures for earthquake relief range from $10bn to
$13.4bn. Some of us who visited Haiti have seen
little or no sign of that money, write activists
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<p>In 2008 some of us had written to Barbara Stocking,
then Oxfam chief executive, objecting to a report that
it sponsored, Rule of Rapists in <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/haiti"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag" class="u-underline">Haiti</a>,
which labelled Haitians as rapists while hiding rapes
by occupying UN forces. The year before, 114 soldiers
had been sent home for raping women and girls, some as
young as 11. No one was prosecuted. We wrote: “NGOs
like Oxfam have known about rapes by UN forces, as
well as by aid and charity workers, for decades. It’s
the pressure of victims, women and [children] in the
most impoverished communities, who had the courage to
speak out that finally won … public acknowledgement.”
There was no reply.</p>
<p>The latest revelations of sexual abuse by major
charities (<a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/12/haiti-demands-oxfam-identify-workers-who-used-prostitutes"
title="" data-link-name="in body link"
class="u-underline">Report</a>, 13 February), are
but one facet of NGO corruption. The people of Haiti
were the first to free themselves from slavery, but
the colonial “masters” they defeated – France, Britain
and the US – have continued to plunder and exploit,
including through imported NGOs. Haiti has more NGOs
per square mile than any other country and it remains
the poorest in the western hemisphere. Corruption
begins and ends with neo-colonial powers.</p>
<p>While celebrated for “doing good”, NGO professionals
do well for themselves. They move between NGOs,
academia and political appointments, enjoying a
culture of impunity while they exercise power over the
poorest. The Lancet described NGOs in Haiti as
“polluted by unsavoury characteristics seen in many
big corporations” and “obsessed with raising money”.</p>
<p>Figures for earthquake relief range from $10bn to
$13.4bn. Some of us who visited Haiti have seen little
or no sign of that money. The public was outraged when
they discovered the Red Cross intended to build a
luxury hotel and conference centre in Haiti with some
unspent donations. Big NGOs are far from
non-governmental. For example, <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/oxfam"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag" class="u-underline">Oxfam</a>
receives millions from the UK government. USAID is
another major funder. Unsurprisingly, NGO politics
follow the cash.</p>
<p>In 2004 the US (backed by Canada and France)
overthrew Haiti’s democratically elected president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He headed a popular movement
to chart an independent course that would move
Haitians “from destitution to poverty”. His government
supported small farmers, raised the minimum wage (the
lowest in the western hemisphere), built schools and
hospitals. (UNEFA, his medical university will be
celebrating the graduation of its first class of
doctors in March). The coup against him had NGO
support. <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/charities"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag" class="u-underline">Charities</a>
thrive on the poor, not on ending poverty.</p>
<p><strong><br>
</strong></p>
<p><strong>Cristel Amiss</strong><br>
<em>Black Women’s Rape Action Project</em><br>
<strong>Andaiye</strong><br>
<em>Red Thread, Guyana</em><br>
<strong>Margaret Busby</strong><br>
<em>(Publisher & author)</em><br>
<strong>Sara Callawa</strong>y<br>
<em>Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike</em><br>
<strong>Luke Daniels</strong><br>
<em>Caribbean Labour Solidarity</em><br>
<strong>Jocelyn Dow</strong><br>
<em>Red Thread, Guyana</em><br>
<strong>Selma James</strong><br>
<em>Global Women’s Strike</em><br>
<strong>Pierre Laboissere</strong><br>
<em>Haiti Action<u>,</u></em><br>
<strong>Emma Lewis</strong><br>
<em>Caribbean Labour Solidarity</em><br>
<strong>Dr. Altheia Le Cointe</strong><br>
<em>Trinidad & Tobago</em><br>
<strong>Eddie Le Cointe</strong><br>
<em>Dominica</em><br>
<strong>Nina Lopez</strong><br>
<em>Legal Action for Women</em><br>
<strong>Ian Macdonald QC</strong><br>
<strong>Rose Okello</strong><br>
<em>All African Women’s Group</em><br>
<strong>Margaret Prescod</strong><br>
<em>Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike</em><br>
<strong>Lawrence Renee</strong><br>
<em>Payday Men’s Network</em><br>
<strong>Sidney Ross-Risden</strong><br>
<em>Haiti Support Working Group</em><br>
<strong>Becky Titah</strong><br>
<em>All African Women’s Group</em><br>
<strong>Sam Karl Weinstein</strong><br>
<em>Refusing to Kill network</em></p>
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