Doctors accused of ‘trading food for sex’ by preying on vulnerable refugees

Doctors Without Borders has been plunged into a “sex-for-aid” scandal after a leaked internal memo alleged staff in Chad preyed on Sudanese refugees, including girls

Doctors Without Borders has been rocked by a sickening “sex-for-aid” scandal after an internal probe found staff exploited desperate refugees by allegedly trading lifesaving essentials for sex.

A leaked internal Medecin Sans Frontieres report has concluded that the organisation’s workers in Chad – including both local hires and international staff – abused their power by preying on the refugees, with claims ranging from exploiting underage girls to demanding sex in exchange for food aid and employment.

The shocking findings – set out in a July 2025 internal memo earlier this month – have sparked fury across the humanitarian world and raised fresh questions about how aid agencies police their own workers.

Doctor’s Without Borders – aka Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – said its investigation logged 59 separate abuse claims, while warning the true total is likely higher because many victims stayed silent. It has since sacked 18 staff, both local and international, banning them from ever working for the charity again.

The crimes happened in eastern Chad along the Sudan border, inside vast, makeshift humanitarian settlements including the Adré transit and refugee camp. MSF’s internal findings say the exploitation took place inside the camps themselves – including in specific areas and buildings where predatory staff were able to isolate victims away from others.

The report also describes abuse linked to MSF vehicles, with victims allegedly transported under false pretences and then assaulted at another location. The victims were Sudanese refugees, mostly women and young girls who had fled ethnic cleansing and extreme violence in Darfur and were living in desperate conditions.

At least 59 allegations were officially logged, although investigators warned the real number of victims is likely far higher because many survivors were too frightened or ashamed to come forward.

Some victims were also daily workers hired by MSF, while others were refugees facing extreme shortages of money, food and basic supplies – making them especially vulnerable to coercion. The internal review said the abuse happened mainly in late 2024, around a year after the war in Sudan escalated and large numbers of people fled across the border.

MSF compiled its findings in a confidential internal report in July 2025, but the details did not become public until June 2026 when the Associated Press revealed the memo. The alleged perpetrators were a mix of local and international personnel working for or alongside MSF.

MSF has not released names or specific job titles, citing legal and privacy restrictions, but it grouped suspects into four categories: international aid workers deployed to Chad, locally hired Chadian staff, short-term daily workers, and external contractors and suppliers involved in running camp logistics. According to the investigation, local and foreign aid staff and contractors used the chaos and shortages inside sprawling refugee camps to prey on vulnerable women who had fled Sudan’s brutal civil war.

Victims allegedly faced a cruel “choice”: hand over sex or go without basics such as food, milk and water – or lose out on work opportunities and job contracts. Even more horrifying, several allegations involved underage girls.

Investigators said minor refugees were allegedly pushed into sexual exploitation and prostitution, with aid and employment dangled as leverage. One case described in the memo is particularly disturbing, Al Jazeera reported.

Seven refugee girls hired as daily workers were reportedly loaded into an MSF vehicle after being told they were going to collect water – but were instead driven to another location where they were sexually abused. Investigators warned that the repeated patterns suggested something even darker than individual wrongdoing.

They said some of the abuse likely amounted to organised “sexual trafficking”, with victims targeted again and again. Complaint boxes and feedback channels were described as “largely ineffective”, with early warnings sometimes receiving no follow-up at all.

In the rush to deal with the massive influx of refugees, MSF also admitted it skipped rigorous reference checks, potentially allowing people with histories of predatory behaviour to be hired.

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