ALMOST 30 further allegations of misconduct have been made to Oxfam bosses since the Haiti sex abuse scandal began, it has emerged.

Most of the fresh claims – 16 – stem from work overseas, with another ten concerning UK operations.

Oxfam GB chief executive Mark Goldring appeared before the Commons International Development Committee yesterday, telling MPs 7000 regular donations have been cancelled over the past ten days.

A number of high ranking staff have quit the international aid charity since reports of misconduct by staff working on earthquake relief in Haiti in 2010 were published.

Apologising for the exploitation of disaster victims by Oxfam staff, Goldring went on: “Across Oxfam Great Britain we have had about 26 stories, reports come to us which were either new reports come out as a result of the stories, or earlier stories where people said, ‘I didn’t necessarily report this at the time’. Over an extended period of time, I am not talking about recent cases.

“We really want people to come forward wherever they are and whenever this happened. Some of those cases relate to the UK, some of them relate to our international programme.”

Goldring also apologised for “grossly inappropriate” comments comparing the prostitution scandal with the murder of babies in a newspaper article, saying: “I should not have said those things. It is not for Oxfam to judge issues of proportionality or motivation.”

Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International said: “I have spent my life trying to stand up for women’s rights and to fight for people living in poverty. This is painful for me.

“Some hideous men came into our organisation and abused the trust of the British people, the supporters, but they were able to get away, to get a recommendation to leave. This was wrong.”

Goldring, who has been in the same post since 2013, said the charity’s ex-Haiti director Roland van Hauwermeiren, should not have been allowed to quit when the organisation learned of his role in the wrongdoing. Oxfam refused to give him a reference, but Goldring said it should have gone further to warn future employers. When pressed on the ages of the women involved in the Haiti “sex parties”, Goldring said Oxfam had found “no evidence” that they were under 18, the legal age of consent in the country.

The Conservative MP Pauline Latham raised concerns about the attitude towards the women involved, saying: “These poor girls have had a natural disaster. You as an organisation, along with others, go in there promising to help.

“You are dealing with these women and girls as if they are just trinkets and you can pay for them, give them a bit of aid, and that’s OK.”

Kevin Watkins, chief executive of Save the Children UK, said that his charity had produced two reports dating back as far as 2002 that warned “predatory men” were seeking to use aid work as an opportunity for abuse. He told the committee: “What both reports highlighted is the role of powerful men as gatekeepers to food, shelter and security, and the fears and concerns of the people who they were there to serve, who felt threatened by them, unsafe and unprotected.

“What has come to light over the past few weeks cautions all of us against complacency.”

Committee member Chris Law, MP for Dundee West, said the international aid sector has been “deeply damaged”, adding: “There needs to be a fuller inquiry into the reported sickening events in Haiti and others that are emerging. We heard a lot of apologies but we need deeds to match these words.

“What we heard today is that many individuals responsible for the appalling activities we now know about were not dealt with and instead were often just passed on to other agencies or charities.

“This is completely unacceptable.”