Paper details

Paper authors	Elizabeth Carthy
In panel on	Can Standards and Reforms Drive Effective Change?
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate the impact of public scandals on introducing and implementing standards and reform efforts in the humanitarian sector, with particular regard to sexual exploitation and abuse (“SEA”). While the problem of SEA by aid workers has made recent headlines, it is not a new phenomenon. In the wake of allegations of widespread sexual exploitation in West African refugee camps in 2002, a number of steps, including, introducing standards and reforms, were discussed and taken to address SEA within the humanitarian community. Sixteen years later, the problem persists and the extent to which the standards and reforms introduced played a role in preventing and/or responding to the issue are unclear. To this end, the paper analyzes the extent of academic and policy interest in addressing SEA, including discussion and implementation of standards and reforms, and the timeliness of such interest since 2002, through an in-depth literature review. It briefly compares the responses to SEA scandals with responses to financial scandals in the humanitarian sector and concludes with an argument for the need for sustained and proactive, rather than reactive, responses to the problem of SEA.

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