Two Catholic charities have taken action amid the ongoing scandal in the voluntary sector, where aid staff have been accused of sexually exploiting the victims of disasters.
British charity Cafod has sacked an employee who is accused of sexual misconduct while working for Oxfam in Haiti after the 2011 earthquake.
The employee joined Cafod in 2014. The charity received a reference from his most recent employer when he joined, but remained unaware of any allegations against him until contacted by the Times.
“We can confirm that the individual has been dismissed,” Cafod said in a statement. “Our review found that there have been no formal complaints of misconduct about the employee during his time at Cafod.
“We requested and yesterday received a reference from Oxfam GB Headquarters which confirmed the allegations against him.”
The charity said it also reviewed two historical cases of sexual misconduct allegations against its staff. It said the first investigation yielded no evidence to require disciplinary action. The second led to the staff member being dismissed.
Separately, the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (Sciaf) has said it has dealt with two cases of alleged sexual abuse of children.
Sciaf said that neither of the alleged victims were being aided by the charity at the time.
Alistair Dutton, the charity’s director, said: “Sciaf is doing everything we can to minimise the risk of these events and to deal with them appropriately.
I won’t tolerate that in any part of our operation.”
Britain will allow Bermuda to abolish same-sex marriage
The British government will not block the reversal of a same-sex marriage bill in a British Overseas Territory, the Prime Minister has said.
A Bermudan court judgment legalised same-sex marriage in May last year. But a new bill, which permits gay couples only to form a civil partnership, was approved by parliament on February 14, superseding the previous legislation.
The British government has the power to block the change in Bermuda, but Theresa May said that although she was “seriously disappointed” by the reversal, the UK’s relationship with overseas territories was based on “respect”.
Walton Brown, Bermuda’s minister of home affairs, said that many Bermudans were against same-sex marriage.
He said: “The act is intended to strike a fair balance between two currently irreconcilable groups in Bermuda, by restating that marriage must be between a male and a female.”
According to a YouGov poll released earlier this month, only 29 per cent of Britons think Bermuda should be forced to maintain same-sex marriage, while 39 per cent say Bermuda should be allowed to abolish it.
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