In a major action against the independent medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as ‘Doctors Without Borders’, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has withheld funding of CHF 1.25 million ($1.52 million) from the NGO. The amount is part of the CHF 6.25 million pledged to MSF for the current year.
The financial action by the Swiss agency concerns two related actions on the part of the NGO: first, the cases of sexual exploitation of refugee women by its staff in Chad, and the NGO’s failure to inform the Swiss authorities about the cases. The decision follows the findings of an internal investigation by MSF, which revealed that the NGO’s staff members sexually exploited multiple refugee women and young girls, taking advantage of their helplessness.
MSF’s lax response to sexual exploitation reports
An internal investigation by MSF found 59 reported incidents of sexual violence and exploitation, particularly involving refugee women and young girls from Sudan. The investigation led to the dismissal of 18 MSF staff members, including six workers from the Swiss Branch of the organisation. The MSF staff members reportedly took advantage of the situation of refugee women and young girls and forced them to have sex in exchange for money, jobs, or humanitarian aid. The Swiss authorities have expressed concern not only about the misconduct by MSF staff but also about MSF’s failure to adequately inform its government donor about the scale of the problem.
Reports suggest that both the SDC and the MSF failed to take timely action on reports of sexual exploitation. The SDC received the first alert about the instances of sexual abuse in November 2024 through an email from the MSF staff at the Geneva headquarters. Subsequent media reports in the following years revealed the actual scale of the exploitation. It was decided at the Swiss foreign ministry in mid-December 2024 to hold a meeting regarding the same in January 2025, but the discussions did not happen until June-July 2025.
Subsequently, when media reports disclosed the scale of the abuse in June 2026, the SDC demanded documents from the MSF. The Swiss foreign ministry accused the MSF of breaching its contractual reporting obligations by failing to proactively and early enough communicate the true, expanding scale of the abuse allegations. MSF reportedly admitted that it had not proactively communicated the full scale of confirmed cases and dismissals to the Swiss agency. The Swiss authorities are considering the possibility of further sanctions and an external investigation in the matter.
Vulnerable refugee women sexually exploited by MSF staff
According to reports, several refugee women made complaints of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse against MSF employees at the end of 2024. These women had fled to Chad to escape the civil war in Sudan. These women, who were living in extremely vulnerable circumstances and depended on humanitarian organisations for necessities, including food, water, medical assistance and employment opportunities, were sexually exploited by MSF employees and other personnel operating in eastern Chad.
In its internal investigation, MSF reportedly found patterns of exploitation that might amount to “sexual trafficking”. Many of the victims chose not to report their sexual abuse, fearing that they would be deprived of vital aid. In its report, MSF admitted that several of the victims who reported the abuse received no response or support.
Reports of racism within the NGO
In 2020, Doctors Without Borders was described as a racist organisation, reinforcing colonialism and white supremacy in its humanitarian work in a statement signed by 1,000 current and former MSF staff members. The statement accused the NGO of perpetuating racism through its policies, hiring practices, workplace culture and “dehumanising” programmes, run by a “privileged white minority” workforce.
In 2021, some reports published shocking revelations made by the NGO’s own current and former staff members about racism and discrimination within the organisation. The revelations were made to reporters who interviewed around 100 MSF staff members, including former employees, in around 30 countries. The MSF staff members reportedly told the reporters that they experienced racism, mistreatment and inequality in the organisation.
The NGO, which sends medical aid to patients in crisis zones around the world, has a workforce comprising local and expatriate members. The MSF personnel interviewed by reporters disclosed that the organisation had a two-tiered employment and compensation structure that divided workers into “international staff” (predominantly white expats from wealthy Western nations) and “national staff” (local hires working in their own crisis-affected countries).
The MSF staffers revealed that personnel from Western countries used explicitly racist language against local staff and staff of colour. One staff member reportedly said that an African worker was addressed by his white colleagues as a chimpanzee, gorilla, and monkey.
The staff members also revealed that foreign workers, even if they had little experience, were given more decision-making power, higher salaries, better benefits, and better protection in the organisation. As per the information disclosed by the staff members, the average cost of an expatriate staffer (salary and benefits) was nearly six times that of the average local worker.
The MSF staffers further told the reporters that expat staffers scolded local staffers for eating food or drinking water designated for expats. And whenever the local workers fell ill, they received a lower level of medical care compared to that given to expat staffers.
Links with terror groups like Hamas
The charges against the NGO do not end at sexual exploitation and racism; it is also accused of having links with the terrorist organisation Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups. In September this year, a UK-based lawyers’ group, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), urged the UK Home Secretary to ban the NGO for having terror links. This led to the opening of a regulatory compliance case against the organisation by the UK Charity Commission.
The UKLF submitted a dossier of concerns about the NGO’s relationships with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The lawyers’ group identified several individuals employed by MSF in Gaza who had been members or operatives of terrorist organisations, or had publicly glorified terrorist attacks and the organisations responsible for them.
One of the MSF staff members suspected by the UKLFI of having terror links was Fadi Jihad Mohammed al-Wadiya, who worked as a physiotherapist with the NGO. He was killed in Gaza in 2024. Israeli authorities described him as a PIJ operative involved in developing the terror group’s rocket capabilities. The UKLFI’s claim was verified when, after his death, PIJ’s military wing referred to him as a “martyr commander” and identified him as deputy head of its military manufacturing unit.
While the NGO claims to be engaged in the noble work of providing humanitarian aid in crisis zones, it has a shady track record involving allegations as serious as racism and terrorism. The latest action by the Swiss authorities following the sexual exploitation reports might have wider implications for it.
