Australia’s aid organisations have been the subject of 31 substantiated sexual misconduct claims in the past three years, prompting a contrite apology from the sector’s umbrella organisation.

The findings are contained in a report commissioned by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), which was moved to act earlier this year by revelations of widespread sexual assault and harassment within the British aid sector.

The study carried out by the Victorian Institute for Forensic Medicine counted 76 claims of sexual misconduct including two cases in which aid workers allegedly raped people in the overseas communities they were working in.

The report calls for a mandatory reporting regime whereby aid organisations would have to tell the Australia Charities and Not-for-profits Commission about all sexual misconduct allegations.

ACFID has agreed to implement all 28 of the report’s recommendations and has issued an apology.

“We would like to acknowledge and apologise to the victims/survivors of sexual misconduct who have been harmed - both those we work alongside and those we exist to protect and support,” the council's board said in a statement.

The board promised to “shed light on and harness our failings”. By commissioning the review, they said they were showing “the gravity with which we consider this issue and our resolve to improve”.

REST OF ARTICLE.

http://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australian-aid-groups-apologise-after-finding-dozens-of-sexual-misconduct-cases-20181120-p50h5t.html

To Belly.

For anyone who wants to give to a charity, there is the risk that the money is going to pay the marketing of the charity instead of towards the cause. Or worse, just going to those who market it and is a streight up con job hanging on the emotional pull of generous people. That is unfortunately a sad reality. To combate this, those who donate are the ones who need to look into the organizations they donate to. The burden is on them. No government body can remove all con men and some are very clever to keep it out of the police's radar, even when it's identy theft or it wipes out a person's retirement. The sad thing is that many who are conned are older people who are talked into giving more then they should. Like you, I wish this could be addressed and could be resolved, but I honestly don't see it happening.

Add crimes to it like the report on aid charities, and that reduces any chance for aid even more. Who has the time or the commitment to research where the money is going by charities before they give to anyone? This does reduce more and more people from giving to charity. That said, Toni's approach isn't a bad one. Give blood, or donate your time to a cause, without giving money. That way you see what your helping, instead of hoping the money goes to the right places. For those who go beyond that type of charity and give generously (either because they researched the charrity, or because they feel generousity is important regardless of the risks of where the money end up), for those people I have a warm respect for. Too many of us have our hearts turned cold because of how generousity has been used to con or steal. (For those who donate their time and their blood, I have a warm respect for them too).

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Charity is an avenue I need to work on for myself too. To give more readily or to find a cause to give to. Otherwise what good am I doing? Letting the fear of misuse stop me from finding a good purpose to open my heart to. It's based on my own need to overcome the fear to give, that I offer my points, and the reality that it is on us to look into if a charity is worth while before giving to it.

NNS Sorry not impressed by your case, see I give, more in truth than I can afford
Even think aid, used well, policed even better,can solve most of the world problems
BUT even in social welfare I oppose fraud
During the week a family came in to the spotlight, no not Muslims
We are told they have been paid well over 400.000 dollars in welfare
But bought a 1.4 million dollar house, paid in cash
Money it is said stolen from the country they came from
Crime should never ever be subsidised by theft from any charity

I wasn't trying to impress you Belly. Just telling you how it is. It would be great if there were no con men and shady charities. But that's just not going to go away. If there's a court to take a con to they might help find justice. But higher police action isn't going to stop fraud. Instead though it might stop some charities from ever being able to start because the cost of policing it comes out in a fee or a percentage of the charity. Or it would be paid for by tax payers money, but that won't last. Taxes are fickle about staying true to their cause, as well as fickle of getting approval to add or keep an extra tax.

You say you give more then you can afford. I don't believe it. Lots of people make ends meet with little money. It's not a choice, it just that it has to be done. If you really do give more then you can afford and there's an issue of going into debt because of it, then that's reckless handeling of money. I hope that is not the case. And for your benifit of the doubt, I don't believe it.

NNS believe me I do not go in to debt, long ago, after a bank employee who committed fraud on many near here cost me a lot I never used bank card or credit again.
Long gone the wage packet that saw me live in comfort I like hundreds of thousands go without some thing to give.
currently it is to drought relief
Nothing can ever be perfect, the best out come can only be better than the current
Fraud is in everything these days and it remains my view we can manage donations to charity better