Action Contre Le Faim, the French organization against hunger seems to be satisfying a lot of its own appetites in the Akha villages of north Laos.
1. Akha villagers claim that ACF forces them to feed their entire work crews for the duration of any project, no matter how many people that is, no matter how long they stay in the villages and no matter how many pigs, chickens, cows are required to be slaughtered and how much rice and other foods are eaten. ACF is suppose to be the organization that fights hunger. So why are they forcing the target villages to feed their troops in Muang Long District of north Laos? Villages are already without food for much of the year, have a high rate of malnutrition, have endured forced relocations and no longer have enough farm land or water resources. Muang Long District is listed by the Lao Government as one of the poorest 47 districts in the nation. Despite the fact that Long District has severe forms of malaria, ACF refuses to provide free mosquito nets. This despite the fact that ACF in their own reports place mortality rates after relocation as high as 20-50% of village populations in the first year, due to intestinal upset and malaria. Some villagers stated that they buried villagers at the rate of 3-4 people per day. Mosquito nets are approximately $1 each and are the most cost effective way to prevent malaria and the high cost of treatment or outright death. This should be noted in comparison to bloated staff levels and salaries.
(NCA staff stated that they list nets as costing $9 each in their budget.)
- ACF has close to 90 staff members in Muang Long District. No one can explain the excessive numbers. Nearly the entire population of Long District is Akha. Nearly all the target villages are Akha. But ONLY 10 staff members are Akha. They are paid the lowest wages despite the fact that they speak two languages, and without them the work in the villages would be impossible. Non Akha staff are paid double and above of what the Akha are paid. The Akha are also required to do the hardest menial tasks such as carry concrete, construction work and are ridiculed by the Lao staff. They are not provided with ongoing education. They are not allowed to climb up through the NGO management. They are not provided with ANY health care benefits.
- There are NO Akha women on ACF staff in Muang Long District.
- Witness statements on video say that 70% of ACF staff visiting or overnighting in Akha villages demand Akha girls for sex. Girls are not allowed to refuse to go to the men’s huts. ACF staff then say in town that Akha girls are “easy”. If ACF staff is in a village ten days, they will demand a different girl each night. This is in a region already at high risk for HIV transmission. There may be as many as ten staff members staying in the village, eating Akha food for free, demanding girls. Witness statements say that if there are ten men, at least 7 will demand girls, and that the men who don’t demand girls are by far in the minority. ACF staff will not allow Akha men to gain rides on their vehicles through a region, only young women.
- ACF failure of management structure has led to this nightmare. Failure to have the staff made up of the target group. Failure to maintain 50% Akha women on the staff. Failure to have an Akha advocate or person who can readily speak Akha and VERIFY what is going on. Failure to train the Akhas for ALL positions on staff and failure to have an open and democratic process between staff and villagers.
- NCA (Norwegian Church Aid) is also located in Muang Long. NCA staff are accused by the Akha of the same sexual abuse. Women and ensuing babies have been identified. It is worth while to mention here that NCA teamed up with New Life Foundation and UNESCO to put on a HIV prevention and Anti Trafficking Project in Muang Long, Maung Sing and Vieng Poukha Districts.
- These accusations are voiced by scores of Akha from villagers to village elders, that the conditions are pervasive, that it is going on right now, that sexual abuse of the Akha girls is rampant in the villages by staff of ACF, NCA and GTZ. While direct aid for items the Akha need is intermittent. NCA staff in Vientiane stated that the Akha have a policy of “free sex”. The Akha stated that this is highly offensive as compared to what appears to be a policy on the part of the NGO’s to DEMAND sex from Akha girls. The Akha stated that in some cases Akha men threatened that they would shoot NGO workers for demanding Akha girls for sex.
Video transcripts will be posted to this site within days.
ACF, NCA and GTZ must reorganize their structures. Organization management and staff must be terminated for gross incompetence. Staff numbers must be changed such that Akha staffing and rank represents the population of the villages including 50% women. Staff must be equally given health insurance, same as the expat staff has, and staff must be offered ongoing education.
Girls who were sexually abused must be compensated. Staff identified in the sexual abuse must be fired and prosecuted. Organizations must hire outside Akha speaking consultants to review measures implemented to prevent sexual abuse in villages.
Clear policies that prohibit staff from having ANY sexual contact in the course of their work, must be clearly spelled out to prevent sexual abuse. The prevention of sexual abuse must be tied to all funding that is given into the region.
ACF, NCA and GTZ show shocking disregard for the population that they are paid with European funds to assist. Flashy publications cover the real abuse that is going on in the region. UNESCO has failed to monitor the true activities of these organizations, while funding numerous projects in the region such as Eco Tourism. There is no Akha advocate who can represent the collective interest of the Akha and other ethnic villagers in UNESCO’s TOP DOWN approach to eco tourism, claiming tourism is community based when in fact there is no way to prove this, and villagers have NOT given Free, Prior and INFORMED Consent to the process. Meanwhile the tourism projects get wealthy, numerous individuals get wealthy, numerous UNESCO staff have good jobs, and the villagers have little say in the process as these westerners would require if it was in their own western communities. While the tour organizations get healthy sums of cash immediately from the scores of daily tourists, the villagers get a “fund” which is a racist construct of UNESCO and the Tour Agencies, rather than their fair percentage in cash at the time the tourists enter the village. The issue of whether villages are private and this is an intrusion has not been discussed. Aid agencies have had plenty of time to provide assistance to these villagers and sufficient funding that the villagers should not be having to support a romanticized “Akha this” “Akha that” to finally gain economic benefit.
Scores of tourists who have gone on the tours state that they felt that the tours were intrusive, that they felt ashamed at the poverty of the people who were made to entertain them, and that the most basic needs of the villagers were not being met including health care. None of the tour operators, tourists or guides live under these conditions. As well, tourists stated that they were told many prejudicial and racist statements by tour guides which cast the villagers and their culture in a bad light.
