Sexual Abuse by Aid Workers: Inside an MSF Investigation in Chad

An internal investigation by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has uncovered 59 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation committed by staff members—both local and foreign—working with Sudanese refugees in Chad. The alleged abuses follow a troubling pattern: people in positions of power at the organization trading food, jobs, and humanitarian aid in exchange for sex.

What makes this significant is that the investigation found a pattern rather than isolated incidents. The allegations involve personnel at all levels. MSF has publicly released these findings, which is noteworthy given that the organization plays a central role in responding to the Sudan humanitarian crisis.

The Sudan Context

The refugee population in Chad exists in one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies. In July 2024, MSF released a report documenting indiscriminate violence against civilians across Sudan, including repeated attacks on hospitals and health workers. This violence has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee into eastern Chad over the past two years.

The scale of this displacement means refugees are almost entirely dependent on aid organizations for survival. When staff members exploit that dependency—offering food or jobs in return for sex—the abuse takes on a particular gravity. Refugees in these settings have almost no way to refuse without risking their survival, making meaningful consent impossible.

Sexual Violence in Darfur

A March 2026 MSF report documented that there are no safe places for women and girls across Darfur, a region within Sudan. Sexual violence there is systematic and widespread, not random. MSF treated more than 73,800 victims of sexual violence globally in 2024, underscoring the staggering number of survivors the organization encounters.

The contrast is stark. MSF documents mass sexual violence perpetrated against the people it serves, while simultaneously confronting allegations that its own staff sexually abused those same people. Both realities now exist as public fact.

What 59 Allegations Actually Signal

This is not a handful of bad actors. At this volume—spread across both local and international staff—the investigation points to deeper failures. These likely include weak hiring practices, insufficient supervision in the field, or broken systems for reporting abuse. Organizations in the humanitarian sector follow standards set by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (PSEA standards) that require zero tolerance for sexual abuse, easy ways to report it, and investigations that center the survivor. Whether MSF met these standards will be a question for donors and oversight bodies.

MSF's decision to make these findings public is significant. Many aid organizations have quietly buried internal abuse investigations—a pattern that became international news after the 2018 Oxfam scandal in Haiti. Releasing the information does not undo the harm, but it does preserve the trust needed for accountability to happen. Donors and UN agencies will be watching to see if MSF's corrective actions match the scale of the problem.

The timing compounds the stakes. The Sudan response is already underfunded, with multiple UN agencies operating with cuts to staff and programs. When refugees lose faith in aid organizations—whether because of violence in the country or misconduct by staff—it worsens an already dire situation for the millions of Sudanese still dependent on international help.

One critical detail remains missing: MSF has not publicly disclosed what happened to the staff members involved, which refugee camps or facilities were affected, or when the abuse occurred. For anyone assessing whether the organization's response was adequate, these specifics matter significantly.