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Home Health MSF Fires 18 Staff After Sexual Abuse Scandal Involving Sudanese Refugees

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MSF Fires 18 Staff After Sexual Abuse Scandal Involving Sudanese Refugees

West Africa WeeklyJune 17, 20262 Mins read18

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known internationally by its French acronym MSF, has fired 18 staff members following an internal investigation into allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse against Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad. The offences date back to 2024, roughly one year into Sudan’s civil war.

The Allegations

According to the Associated Press, which first reported the story, at least 59 Sudanese refugee women and girls have come forward with complaints. The allegations include sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse. In many documented cases, MSF staff offered food, water, milk, jobs, money, or easier access to aid in exchange for sex. Some of the victims were minors.

The investigation found that the abuse extended beyond refugees to include some Chadian female employees who were threatened with losing their jobs if they refused to have sex with supervisors or colleagues.

Disturbing Details

One section of the internal report described a building within a refugee camp where MSF staff members were reportedly seen seeking out girls. Community leaders later imposed a curfew to prevent young girls from visiting MSF workers.

In one incident, seven refugee girls employed as day labourers were transported in an MSF vehicle. They were told they were being taken to water distribution and construction sites but were instead driven elsewhere, where they were subjected to sexual assault and pressured to engage in sexual activity.

Fear of Speaking Out

Some victims chose not to report the abuse because they feared access to vital aid would be withheld in retaliation. MSF acknowledged in its own report that those who did come forward sometimes received no reply or support, and that official complaint procedures were mostly ineffective.

MSF’s Response

In late 2024, after receiving complaints from Sudanese refugee women, MSF immediately sent multiple investigation teams to eastern Chad. Over several months, investigators identified 59 allegations of misconduct. While some were corroborated, others remained unverified because neither victims nor perpetrators could be identified.

Where investigations established serious misconduct, immediate disciplinary action was taken. As a result, 18 staff have been dismissed and are now barred from working with MSF. The accused workers included contracted staff, daily workers, external contractors, and suppliers.

MSF Secretary General Laura Leyser said: “This misconduct represents a serious breach of MSF’s values and responsibilities. We recognise the pain, harm, and suffering experienced by the survivors and we deeply regret that this has happened in our programmes”.

The organisation said it has strengthened recruitment and reference checks for locally hired staff and daily workers, improved staff identification, reinforced detection efforts, and appointed dedicated safeguarding resources. MSF also said it respects and supports the wishes of survivors on whether to bring matters to the authorities.

The Broader Crisis

Sudan’s civil war, now in its fourth year, is widely recognised as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 12 million people have been displaced, with nearly one million fleeing to Chad. Mass sexual violence has been widely documented as a weapon of war in the conflict, with men, women, and children targeted, including babies as young as one year old. Between January 2024 and November 2025, at least 3,396 survivors of sexual violence sought treatment in MSF-supported facilities across North and South Darfur.

The scandal adds to years of controversy over abuse in the aid sector, with humanitarian workers in multiple countries accused of sexual exploitation in recent years despite promises to end such abuses.