SHARON COMMINS, the aid worker who was kidnapped in Sudan last year while working for Goal, has accused the agency of endangering her life for financial gain.
Ms Commins, who spent 107 days in captivity, said some organisations including Goal had moved into remoter areas of Sudan after other agencies withdrew. They had done this in the absence of security guarantees for staff and knowing there was an “explicit” threat that staff could be abducted.
Millions of euro in additional funds were available because they had been released by donors but were not being used after the other agencies withdrew. "Lots of money was being made by endangering frontline staff when more responsible agencies held back," she told The Irish Timesyesterday.
She said a proper analysis of the security situation would have led to agencies keeping away from dangerous parts of the country. Asked if she felt Goal had acted irresponsibly in her case, she replied: “Definitely”.
Ms Commins and her colleague Hilda Kawuki were held captive after being taken from a Goal compound in north Darfur in Sudan last year.
Asked if she believed Goal’s chief executive John O’Shea had acted responsibly, she replied: “I don’t wish to personalise matters but people at the top of organisations should be judged for their responsibility when things go wrong as well as when they go right.”
She accused Goal of failing its field staff and not adhering to its own policies. “An aid agency has a duty of care to its staff and a legal responsibility to ensure that they are adequately protected, but this didn’t happen in our case.” By not providing relevant protection to staff, Goal was in breach of its contracts with Irish Aid and other donors, she said.
Mr O'Shea was not available for comment yesterday but on Monday he told an RTÉ Prime Timeprogramme that he did not feel he had responsibility for the security of his staff.
“I don’t believe I have . . . When you go into a place like Sudan, you have to understand that the Sudanese authorities have taken control of security,” Mr O’Shea said. “I’ve 2,700 employees at the moment. Can I know what’s happening in every village?
Ms Commins said she received no special training for working in a high-risk area, despite formal and informal requests.
She claims there were a series of “red flag” incidents in the run-up to the kidnap which should have alerted Goal to the dangers facing her and Ms Kawuki. These included a specific threat against agency workers and an incident in which a Goal vehicle was shot at.
“These should have led to our immediate relocation away from the danger area while the threat was assessed,” she said.
Ms Commins said she had decided to speak out in order to highlight the unnecessary risk to which she had been exposed and by doing so to make it less likely that others would have a similar experience.
“Hilda, myself and both our families were subjected to a dreadful ordeal, which could and should have been avoided. Darfur is one of the most dangerous places on the planet and yet there does not seem to have been recognition of this by our former employer Goal.”
Asked whether a ransom was paid for her release, she said she had no reason to believe one was. She did not believe those who had kidnapped her had benefited financially from their actions.
Ms Commins said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin were “superb” throughout her ordeal.
She now works for Concern, as a desk officer for Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She says she has overcome her ordeal, which has been “neutralised” by the kindness and consideration she has received from so many people. Ms Kawuki has also returned to the aid sector and works for an international agency in her native Kampala.
