MSF Report Details 59 Abuse Allegations in Chad, Dismisses 18 Staff

Doctors Without Borders released an internal report in July documenting 59 allegations of abuse and sexual exploitation involving its staff in Chad. The investigation began after Associated Press reporting in fall 2024 and resulted in the dismissal of 18 staff members, who were also barred from future employment with the organization.

The report described cases of sexual exploitation of female refugees in exchange for food, water, and milk. It also documented instances of sex exchanged for jobs and the prostitution of female refugees, including underage girls. One incident involved seven refugee girls hired as daily workers who were placed in an MSF vehicle, taken to a different location than stated, and exposed to sexual abuse and requests for sex.

Community leaders implemented a curfew to prevent young girls from visiting MSF staff after reports that workers were seen searching for girls in one block of a refugee camp. Half a dozen community leaders told investigators that even though their daughters or sisters had been victims of abuse, they chose not to report the incidents to MSF.

Some female Chadian staff members were threatened with losing their jobs if they refused to have sex with supervisors or colleagues.

The document stated that some repeated exploitation suggested potentially organized sexual trafficking. The report said MSF was unaware of most cases of abuse prior to the AP reporting. In 2023 the organization had conducted weeks of training with staff and community leaders about abuse prevention, but high staff turnover undermined those efforts.

The urgent need for personnel and the absence of reference checks resulted in the hiring of people with histories of misconduct.

There was no system in place to share names of staff flagged as Do Not Hire, specifically for local staff. Similar allegations and recommendations had been made in 2021 during the Ebola outbreak in Congo, yet led to no significant change. MSF employs tens of thousands of people across dozens of countries.