Scottish charity regulator reveals 15 sexual misconduct allegations

Sciaf issued a statement on its website regarding the two alleged cases

Scotland's charity regulator said there had been 15 allegations of sexual misconduct within the sector in the past two years.

The watchdog's spokeswoman Judith Turbyne said all the allegations, known as "notifiable events", involved sexual misconduct.

On the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Ms Turbyne said a "small number" of allegations had been made.

She said the details had been passed to Police Scotland.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is the independent watchdog and registrar for Scotland's charities.

Ms Turbyne later confirmed that the regulator had only found out about the two allegations of abuse involving the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (Sciaf), this week.

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It emerged earlier this week that Sciaf had dealt with two cases of sexual misconduct by its representatives abroad.

The first case in 2012 involved the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl by a 45-year-old Burundian man.

The second case in 2016 involved an Ethiopian man accused of sexual misconduct with a boy under 16.

Sciaf is the only Scottish charity working internationally to be linked to the sexual misconduct allegations, Ms Turbyne said.

It follows condemnation of British charity Oxfam over the way it handled claims staff hired prostitutes in Haiti in 2011.

Oxfam staff had been in Haiti as part of the relief effort following the 2010 earthquake

Speaking about the allegations across the Scottish charity sector, Ms Turbyne said: "We have a very small number of reports but not from international charities.

"The only one we have from an international charity is from Sciaf at the moment.

"There is a very small number of those which are mostly historical. There is nothing very nefarious that will hit the public eye.

"If we get a "notifiable event" we will open an inquiry if an inquiry needs to be opened in the way the charity commission has done with Oxfam at the moment.

"We have none open at the moment with those cases."

Completely honest

Ms Turbyne said the regulator expects to learn about a "notifiable event" as soon as possible.

She said: "When charities come across this and are starting to deal with it, they should let us know so we are being preventative and getting in there at the beginning, making sure it doesn't get worse."

Ms Turbyne said she expects Scottish charities to be completely honest.

She said: "You have got to make sure you are dealing with a situation and being transparent and eventually that comes through in your accounts and reports and how you tell your beneficiaries.

"But you have to deal with it in as sensitive a way as possible at the time.

"It's about integrity and that is what we need from our charities."

Oxfam boss Winnie Byanyima has announced an independent investigation into sexual exploitation

The OSCR later said there had been a total of 19 notifications of serious incident involving children or vulnerable adults, 15 of which included allegations of sexual misconduct.

It said none of the allegations had resulted in a formal inquiry, and that it was "confident" that trustees had acted appropriately in each case.

The revelations came on the day it was announced an independent commission was to be set up to investigate past and present allegations of sexual exploitation by staff at Oxfam.

The charity's international executive director Winnie Byanyima said it would "do justice" and "atone for the past".

She invited victims to come forward "for justice to be done" for them, saying she was "here for all the women who have been abused".