The Independent: Volunteers in the Calais Jungle have been accused of sexually exploiting refugees and even child migrants.
The Independent has discovered a serious row has broken out among some unpaid charity workers at the camp in northern France, with some believing forging sexual relationships with adult refugees is natural in such circumstances, while others say it breaches all usual codes of conduct.
One man who raised the alarm was later subjected to a barrage of online abuse.
The man wrote: “I have heard of boys, believed to be under the age of consent, having sex with volunteers. I have heard stories of men using the prostitutes in the Jungle too.
“I have heard of volunteers having sex with multiple partners in one day, only to carry on in the same vein the following day. And I know also, that I’m only hearing a small part of a wider scale of abuse.”
The volunteer went on to say these sexual encounters were damaging for refugees, who are “in an entirely unequal position of power” and “entirely dependent on the aid that is provided by volunteers”.
“Sex from a person who is in a position of power or influence, in such a one-sided affair, especially where it is perceived that aid or better aid can be gained from it, that it is, and can be defined as sexual abuse,” he said.
He cited the code of conduct used by UNHCR, which states that sexual relationships between aid staff and beneficiaries are “strongly discouraged” due to “unequal power relationships”.
The man added that the majority of cases in question involved female volunteers and male refugees – which he claimed risked the objectification of women volunteering in the camp.
He wrote: “Female volunteers having sex enforces the view (that many have) that volunteers are here for sex. This impression objectifies women in the camp and increases the risks.”
