Doctors Without Borders Staff Abused Refugees in Chad, Internal Memo Finds

Doctors Without Borders, known as MSF, found a pattern of abuse and sexual exploitation by some local and foreign staff working in Chad along the Sudanese border, including cases targeting underage girls or trading food or jobs for sex with refugees, according to a confidential internal memo obtained by The Associated Press.

“An internal report by the aid group Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, has found that local and foreign staff exploited refugees in Chad, sometimes targeting underage girls and other times trading food aid and jobs for sex”

Al Jazeera

The report, completed in July and first reported Saturday by The Associated Press, found 59 allegations of abuse and said 18 staff members were dismissed and barred from future employment.

Al Jazeera

MSF said it launched the monthslong investigation in response to AP reporting that women had accused staff of sexually exploiting them in displacement sites in Chad, where hundreds of thousands fled from Sudan’s devastating civil war, now in its fourth year.

The memo also said some of the repeated exploitation suggested potentially organized “sexual trafficking,” and that in some cases the allegations couldn’t be verified or the perpetrators identified.

In the cases AP found in Chad in 2024, women said people meant to protect them—humanitarians and local security forces—offered money, easier access to assistance, and jobs in exchange for sex, and the reporting said such sexual exploitation in Chad is a crime.

The internal report credited AP as playing “a fundamental role as an external whistleblower,” while MSF told AP its findings were “a candid internal analysis” of where its systems had failed.

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MSF said it began the investigation in 2024 and found that Sudanese refugees, as well as a number of Chadian MSF staff, were exploited and abused, with the report describing cases where female refugees, including underage girls, were prostituted.

Al Jazeera reported that in one case seven refugee girls, allegedly hired as daily workers, were put into an MSF vehicle and told they were going to water distribution and construction sites, but were taken to a different location and “exposed to” sexual abuse and requests for sex.

MSF said it strengthened recruitment efforts, reference checks and complaint systems since the release of the report, but also recognized that significant work remains to ensure lasting change.

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In its written response, MSF said the 59 allegations of misconduct “represent a serious breach of MSF’s values and responsibilities, and we deeply regret the harm caused,” and the memo said the findings likely only scratch the surface because many women were hesitant to speak openly.

The report described fear of retaliation and access to aid as barriers to reporting, with the memo saying some feedback mechanisms such as boxes where people could place complaints were largely ineffective.

Al Jazeera added that MSF acknowledged 59 allegations of abuse while saying there were likely more as survivors were reluctant to speak out, and it reported that the organization said those measures did not have a lasting impact.