The recent revelations concerning the sexual exploitation and abuse of Sudanese refugees within Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders, MSF) in Chad should shock the conscience of the world. According to an internal report obtained by the Associated Press, dozens of allegations of sexual abuse, exploitation, coercion, and misconduct were recorded within MSF’s operations in Chad, involving Sudanese refugees, Chadian nationals, MSF staff, contractors, underage girls, and other vulnerable women.
What makes these revelations particularly horrifying is the nature of the alleged abuses. According to the report, MSF investigated cases in which female refugees were sexually exploited in exchange for food, water, and milk—basic necessities required for survival. Other allegations involved women being pressured into sexual relationships in exchange for employment opportunities, while still other cases involved the prostitution and exploitation of female refugees, including underage girls.
The report further describes an area within a refugee camp where aid workers were reportedly known to search for girls. The situation became so alarming that community leaders allegedly imposed a curfew to prevent young girls from “visiting” MSF staff. If these allegations are true, they represent not only a gross abuse of power but a profound assault on human dignity and a betrayal of the humanitarian vocation itself.
There is something especially cruel about demanding sexual favors from refugees in exchange for food, water, employment, or protection”
These acts cannot be dismissed as isolated incidents of misconduct. They reveal a pattern of predatory behavior in which individuals entrusted with caring for vulnerable people allegedly exploited their positions of authority to prey upon women and girls whose lives had already been shattered by war, displacement, hunger, and insecurity. There is something especially cruel about demanding sexual favors from refugees in exchange for food, water, employment, or protection. Such acts transform humanitarian assistance from an expression of solidarity into an instrument of coercion. They weaponize vulnerability and convert human suffering into an opportunity for exploitation.
Even more disturbing is MSF’s admission that while 18 alleged perpetrators were identified and dismissed, many others connected to more than 59 reported cases could not be identified. This raises deeply troubling questions. If perpetrators remain unidentified, then it is entirely possible that within the ranks of MSF, there are sexual predators who have committed acts of sexual exploitation and abuse and have not been held accountable, who might reoffend. Such a possibility should alarm not only MSF but the entire humanitarian community.
As disturbing as these revelations are, the greater tragedy is that they point to a much deeper and more pervasive problem within the international humanitarian system. The allegations emerging from Chad are not simply about individual wrongdoing. They expose structural failures that have long plagued parts of the aid sector operating in Africa: unequal power relationships, weak accountability mechanisms, inadequate oversight, sexual fetishization of black bodies, organizational cultures that protect institutions before victims, and a humanitarian model that often leaves the most vulnerable people with little power to challenge those who control access to aid, employment, healthcare, and protection. Many of the hapless victims of these egregious sexual violations said in this report that they could not speak out for fear of retaliation and withdrawal of aid and support.
The allegations emerging from Chad are not simply about individual wrongdoing. They expose structural failures that have long plagued parts of the international aid sector operating in Africa”
Many of us who have worked in international development and humanitarian assistance, particularly in Africa, are sadly familiar with what some have called the world’s worst-kept secret. The sexual exploitation of vulnerable women and children by aid workers has surfaced repeatedly over the last two decades. Even the MSF itself admits that, since 2002, there have been repeated cases of sexual abuse and exploitation of young African refugees in its ranks. Our hearts are torn apart reading these sad cases of our children, whose humanity already torn by suffering, have been voided by these conscienceless husks of humanity who parade themselves as international humanitarians. The names of organizations change, the countries change, and the circumstances change, but the pattern remains disturbingly familiar.
The long and shameful list of humanitarian and international NGO workers abuses of vulnerable black women and girls by humanitarian and international NGO workers shocks the conscience. How can we forget the Oxfam scandal in Haiti, which revealed how humanitarian workers exploited women and girls in a country devastated by an earthquake and poverty? Investigations involving United Nations peacekeeping missions uncovered widespread allegations of rape, child abuse, prostitution, and sexual exploitation in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Eritrea, Somalia, and the Central African Republic. Between 2004 and 2014 alone, thousands of allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse were reported against U.N. personnel and peacekeepers. The current allegations involving MSF suggest that, despite years of promises, safeguarding reforms, and public commitments, the humanitarian sector has not yet fully confronted the structural roots of the problem—asymmetrical power relations and a messianic complex that made these predators turn Africa and the poor into a hunting ground for sexual pleasure without paying any penalty in most cases.
Humanitarian work inevitably involves asymmetrical relationships. Aid workers often possess resources, mobility, education, legal protections, institutional backing, and access to opportunities that local populations lack. Refugees, displaced persons, and impoverished communities frequently depend on humanitarian organizations for food, shelter, healthcare, employment, protection, and survival itself. Whenever such unequal relationships exist without strong systems of accountability, the potential for abuse increases dramatically. What makes these abuses particularly disturbing is that they occur in places where people are already suffering the consequences of war, displacement, poverty, natural disasters, or political instability. The victims are often individuals whose vulnerability has already been compounded by trauma. To exploit them further is not merely professional misconduct; it is a profound betrayal of humanity.
The tragedy is compounded when organizations respond primarily by protecting their reputation rather than protecting survivors. Every major scandal in the aid sector seems to reveal similar institutional failures: victims who fear retaliation, whistleblowers who are ignored, incomplete investigations, perpetrators who quietly resign and disappear from the scene without a trace, weak information sharing among agencies, and leadership structures more concerned with limiting public embarrassment than with pursuing justice. Such responses undermine public trust and erode confidence in organizations that perform indispensable humanitarian work around the world.
I wish to be clear that I respect the vast majority of humanitarian workers, who are dedicated women and men who risk their lives daily to serve others under extremely difficult conditions. Millions of people depend on their courage, professionalism, and compassion. The issue is not whether humanitarian organizations do good work. They do. The issue is whether the humanitarian sector is willing to acknowledge that good intentions alone cannot prevent abuse when systems of power remain unchecked.
When aid workers become predators, they violate not only organizational codes of conduct but the very moral foundation upon which humanitarian action rests”
The first principle of humanitarian action is humanity itself. The purpose of humanitarian work is to protect life, preserve dignity, alleviate suffering, and ensure respect for every human person. When aid workers become predators, they violate not only organizational codes of conduct but the very moral foundation upon which humanitarian action rests. As Pope Leo reminds us in Magnifica Humanitas, every human institution must be judged by whether it protects and advances the dignity of the human person and safeguards our shared humanity, especially the lives of those who are most vulnerable.
Humanitarian organizations exist precisely because human suffering cries out for solidarity, protection, and care. When those entrusted with this sacred responsibility exploit vulnerable women and children for sexual gratification, food, employment, or other favors, they transform instruments of compassion into instruments of domination. They cease to be healers of wounds and become agents of further suffering. Such acts are not only violations of professional ethics; they represent a profound betrayal of humanity itself and an assault on the very values that humanitarian organizations claim to defend.
What is required now is more than another round of apologies or public statements of concern. The recurring pattern of abuse in humanitarian operations—from the United Nations to Oxfam and now the troubling allegations involving MSF in Chad—shows that the international community has failed to translate its promises into effective accountability. I have long argued for a fundamental reform of the aid regime in Africa. Aid workers and humanitarian organizations must be accountable not only to donors and headquarters but also to the communities they serve. A system that is accountable upward to funders but not downward to vulnerable people creates the conditions for abuse, impunity, and the misuse of power.
Aid workers and humanitarian organizations must be accountable not only to donors and headquarters but also to the communities they serve”
The measure of our humanity is whether we respect the humanity of the poor and protect the dignity and rights of those we claim to serve. World leaders, governments, NGOs, and donor agencies must move beyond words and establish a binding international framework that treats sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers as a grave violation of human rights and humanitarian principles. Such a framework should guarantee independent investigations—MSF, like other charitable agencies implicated in the abuse of the vulnerable in Africa, cannot self-police—criminal prosecution of perpetrators, protection for whistleblowers, meaningful participation of aid recipients in oversight processes, and long-term support and compensation for survivors. Until then, vulnerable women, girls, and children will continue to remain at risk from those who are supposed to protect them.
