Why the findings should prompt every humanitarian organisation to look hard at its own systems.
(Also, published on our LinkedIn page as post and LinkedIn Newsletter)
Fishbone Diagram, Addressing Safeguarding Failures in Humanitarian Aid, safepath.club
This week's piece comes from Mubarak Maman, founder and CEO of Safe Path International.
Mubarak has worked in safeguarding and child protection across humanitarian contexts for over two decades, and the recent MSF Chad report sits at the centre of conversations he's been having across the sector.
Protecting the vulnerable: lessons from the MSF Chad investigation
By Mubarak Maman, Founder & CEO, Safe Path International
The recent report by Médecins Sans Frontières detailing allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by humanitarian workers serving Sudanese refugees in Chad is deeply disturbing. It is also, unfortunately, not surprising. The findings make clear how urgently the sector needs stronger safeguarding measures and greater accountability.
The internal investigation identified 59 allegations of abuse, including cases involving underage girls, transactional sex linked to food assistance and employment opportunities, and patterns of repeated exploitation that raised serious concerns about possible organised sexual trafficking.
MSF's decision to investigate, dismiss those responsible, and publicly acknowledge what was found matters. But the report exposes a much larger systemic problem across humanitarian work, and MSF's transparency should not remain an isolated example.
UN agencies, international organisations, and NGOs operating in humanitarian settings should urgently undertake independent audits, safeguarding reviews, and investigations into their own operations. The current measures and existing compliance mechanisms are clearly not enough to detect, prevent, and address abuse at the scale required.
Symptoms of a system, not isolated incidents
These incidents are not isolated acts of individual misconduct. They are symptoms of weak safeguarding systems, inadequate accountability mechanisms, and insufficient organisational commitment to Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
More than two decades after the West Africa "sex-for-food" scandal, humanitarian organisations continue to struggle with the same fundamental challenges. Safeguarding remains chronically underfunded, with limited resources allocated for prevention, investigations, community feedback mechanisms, and survivor support.
Leadership commitment is often rhetorical rather than operational, with PSEA treated as a compliance requirement instead of a core accountability and protection function. Significant power imbalances between aid workers and crisis-affected populations create environments where exploitation can flourish while victims remain silent for fear of losing assistance or facing retaliation.
Reporting and investigation systems are often inaccessible, poorly trusted, or unable to prevent perpetrators from moving between organisations. Emergency response pressures frequently prioritise speed and delivery targets over safeguarding oversight and community engagement. And survivor assistance remains inadequate, with insufficient access to medical, psychosocial, legal, and livelihood support.
Beyond zero tolerance
The humanitarian sector must move beyond policy statements and "zero tolerance" rhetoric. Zero tolerance without dedicated resources, independent accountability, strong leadership ownership, and survivor-centred systems becomes little more than a slogan.
Safeguarding is not an administrative requirement. It is a fundamental obligation to the communities we serve.
Until organisations treat safeguarding and PSEA as non-negotiable operational priorities, with dedicated budgets, measurable leadership accountability, and meaningful community participation, vulnerable women, girls, boys, and men will remain at risk from those entrusted with their protection.
Communities themselves must also be encouraged and supported to raise their voices, report concerns, and safely disclose any incidents of exploitation, abuse, harassment, or misconduct. Every report matters. Creating trusted, accessible reporting channels is essential to breaking the cycles of silence and impunity that have lasted far too long.
The people we serve deserve better. Accountability must begin with us.
Where Safe Path International can help
If the MSF Chad report has prompted internal conversations in your organisation, that's the moment to act on them rather than let them fade.
We carry out independent safeguarding and PSEA reviews for humanitarian organisations, looking at the full system: prevention, reporting, investigations, survivor support, leadership accountability, and community engagement.
We help organisations set up reporting channels that are genuinely trusted by the people they're meant to protect, including external-facing options through our partnerships with leading reporting platforms. And we work directly with senior leadership teams on the operational habits that move PSEA from a compliance line item to a core function.
If you'd like to talk through where your organisation stands, reply to this email. No pitch.
Looking ahead
Next week: Digital safeguarding; AI risks, data security, and what consumer tools mean for protection work.
Coming soon: 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗛/𝗦𝗔𝗙𝗘𝗚𝗨𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗚𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚. Training that actually changes behaviour. The business case for safeguarding investment. Learn more here!
Safe Path International helps organisations build safeguarding systems that hold up under pressure; independent reviews, PSEA implementation, leadership accountability, and culture work.
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