MSF Report Details 59 Abuse Allegations in Chad Camps; 18 Staff Dismissed

An internal report by Doctors Without Borders found that local and foreign staff exploited refugees in Chad, sometimes targeting underage girls and trading food aid and jobs for sex. The report, completed in July 2025, documented 59 allegations of misconduct ranging from sexual harassment to exploitation and abuse.

MSF dismissed and barred 18 local and foreign staff members from future employment.

MSF began the internal investigation in 2024 after an Associated Press investigation published in November 2024 revealed Sudanese women seeking refuge in Chad were offered jobs and assistance in exchange for sex by aid workers and local security forces.

The Associated Press first reported the MSF internal report findings on June 13 2026. In one documented case, seven refugee girls hired as daily workers were put into an MSF vehicle, told they were going to water distribution and construction sites, but taken elsewhere and exposed to sexual abuse and requests for sex.

MSF found cases where female refugees, including underage girls, were prostituted. Some survivors chose to remain silent during investigations because they feared jeopardising access to aid. Some survivors who spoke up did not receive help afterwards.

MSF said it could not trace every person involved because of the scale of the refugee crisis and movement of people. The organisation acknowledged the 59 allegations likely undercounted the total, as survivors were reluctant to speak out. MSF allocated extra resources in Chad to prevent and fight abuse, including training staff, but said those measures did not have a lasting impact.

The organisation said it is improving its abuse prevention and detection methods, including through confidential reporting channels. MSF is one of the biggest organisations responding to the crisis in refugee camps in Chad. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have been displaced into eastern Chad amid a civil war in its fourth year.