Switzerland Freezes Funding To Doctors Without Borders Over Sexual Exploitation In Chad

Switzerland's aid agency has frozen CHF1.25 million ($1.52 million) in funding to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) over how the charity handled sexual exploitation by its staff in Chad, swissinfo reported Oct. 26. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) held back one tranche of the CHF6.25 million it pledged MSF for this year.

The Swiss foreign ministry says MSF breached its contractual obligation to report, and NZZ am Sonntag writes that mistrust of the charity is "now immense within the Confederation." MSF has acknowledged its mistakes. NZZ says MSF's internal investigation turned up 59 reports of sexual violence and exploitation, mostly involving women and girls who fled the war in Sudan, and that 18 staff were dismissed, six of them from MSF's Swiss branch.

The SDC had a warning early, according to the internal emails NZZ reports on. The first alert came from MSF's Geneva headquarters by email in November 2024, "shortly before the end of the working day." It said three female refugees "are reported to have described cases of sexual exploitation in Chad; the allegations are reportedly already under investigation."

Swiss officials agreed in mid-December 2024 to meet MSF in January. Talks did not resume until June and July 2025. At a February 2026 meeting on protection against sexual exploitation, "the Confederation received no new information" once again. NZZ says the SDC grasped the scale of the problem only after the Associated Press published its reporting in June 2026, when it demanded documents from MSF.

The AP's story rested on a confidential MSF memo it obtained. AP reported June 13 that the memo counted 59 allegations of abuse by local and foreign staff, including food, water and jobs traded for sex with refugees, underage girls among the victims, and patterns that suggested possible organized "sexual trafficking." The memo said MSF had been unaware of most of the cases before the AP's reporting, and it credited the news agency with playing "a fundamental role as an external whistleblower."

MSF confirmed the outcome in its statement three days later: 18 staff dismissed and barred from working for the group, with some allegations corroborated and others unverifiable because neither victims nor perpetrators could always be identified. Secretary General Laura Leyser said, "This misconduct represents a serious breach of MSF's values and responsibilities." On its own page on the case, MSF says 16 investigators reviewed the 59 allegations over eight months and that one service provider's contract was also terminated.

The memo was blunt about why the problems recurred. MSF had no system for sharing "Do Not Hire" names, particularly for local staff, so someone flagged for misconduct could be rehired at another MSF location. The memo added that a similar diagnosis in 2021 "led to no significant change."

The dates do not line up. MSF says its investigation concluded in mid-2025, yet NZZ reports the SDC was still getting no new information from the charity in February 2026.

The Confederation is weighing further sanctions and an external investigation. From 2027, Switzerland will tighten reporting obligations for all of its partner NGOs.