Responses from Wildlife Works and Verra to allegations of systemic and widespread sexual abuse and harassment in the Kasigau REDD project, Kenya
Wildlife Works seems keen to deny how widespread the abuse is within the company
Yesterday, REDD-Monitor wrote a post based on a new report about shocking allegations of systemic sexual abuse at Kasigau REDD project in Kenya. The report was published yesterday by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
At the end of last week, before the report was published, both the project developer, Wildlife Works, and the carbon certifying company, Verra, put out statements about the report.
Verra’s response
Verra published a statement on 3 November 2023, that states, “This morning, Verra was made aware of serious allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the Kasigau REDD Project in Kenya.” The statement notes that the allegations came from the report by SOMO and Kenya Human Rights Commission .
Verra announced that it is initiating an investigation of the Kasigau REDD project. “The project and any further credit issuances will remain on hold until Verra completes the investigation,” Verra states.
In the statement, Verra highlights its Human Rights Policy (dated August 2023) which,
“enables Verra to take action where we have concerns that any of the organizations with which we work may be linked to human rights violations”.
In addition the statement refers to VCS Standard, v4.5 (dated October 2023), Section 3.19.11, which states that,
The project proponent shall ensure that no discrimination or sexual harassment occurs in the project design or implementation.
However, Verra’s statement does not mention Section 3.19.16 of the Standard, which states that,
The project proponent shall respect human rights as set out in the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principals and Rights at Work as part of project design and implementation.
On 11 June 2022, the International Labour Conference amended its Declaration by adding “a safe and healthy working environment” as a fifth principle and right.
The report by SOMO and the Kenya Human Rights Commission states that,
Combined, these accounts paint a picture of Kasigau as a workplace where influential senior male members of staff participate in, enable, and condone a culture of sexual harassment and abuse, leaving women employees in a profoundly and structurally unsafe work environment.
Verra does acknowledge the work by SOMO and the Kenya Human Rights Commission in uncovering the allegations: “We are grateful for the important work of these organizations in bringing these allegations to light.”
Wildlife Works’ response
On 3 November 2023, Mike Korchinsky, President of Wildlife Works, in his statement about the allegations, wrote that “I am deeply sorry for the pain that has been caused.”
However, Korchinsky and his company denied that the problem was widespread. Korchinsky wrote that,
we identified that two individuals had engaged in deeply inappropriate and harmful behavior for which we have zero tolerance. This was heartbreaking for me to learn, and should never have happened.
At this point, Wildlife Works’ version of events differs somewhat from SOMO’s version. Here’s how SOMO described what happened in its report:
In 7 August 2023, a letter was delivered by courier from SOMO to Wildlife Works’ head office in California with a summary of the research findings. The letter asked Wildlife Works to take action.
Wildlife Works hired a Kenyan law firm to conduct an internal company investigation. On 17 August 2023, the company informed staff about the investigation.
On 25 August 2023, Wildlife Works suspended “three members of staff . . . from Wildlife Works Sanctuary pending an investigation into allegations of potential serious misconduct raised by a third party”.
SOMO had identified two of the men to Wildlife Works. The third person remained anonymous because SOMO was “concerned it would reveal the identity of someone we interviewed”. SOMO notes that the suspension suggests that Wildlife Works could easily identify the third alleged perpetrator. SOMO asks how the company “apparently easily knew this person’s identity”.
In its statement, Wildlife Works writes that the internal investigation, which has now been completed, “found that many of these allegations [in SOMO’s letter] were not substantiated”.
Wildlife Works writes that,
We are in the final stages of a disciplinary process against the involved individuals in accordance with Kenyan law. Once this process is completed, we will be able to share more information.
Wildlife Works argues that SOMO has not yet given the company the right to reply as laid out in their Code of Conduct:
We are aware that SOMO has shared a draft investigation report with third parties and that it intends to publish it imminently. If true, this investigation report has never been shared for comment with Wildlife Works, thus violating section 8 of SOMO’s Code of Conduct which provides for a right of reply.
We will be submitting a formal complaint through their open grievance mechanism.
Wildlife Works states that it is “making improvements to and increasing transparency within the grievance process, and associated checks and balances”. And the company is hiring a Kenyan consultant on “workplace gender-based equity harassment and sexual violence to do a full audit of and improvement plan for policies and procedures”.
SOMO’s response to Verra’s and Wildlife Works’ statements
On 4 November 2023, SOMO put out a response to Verra’s and Wildlife Works’ statements. In the response, SOMO writes that,
We observe with deep regret that neither Wildlife Works nor Verra speak about providing support and remedy to the women and families who have been affected by sexual abuse and harassment.
The abuses we uncovered date back a decade or more. While it is important that Verra has taken action, the serious allegations of abuse, which Verra will now investigate, were not picked up by Verra or the audit process that is integral to its carbon offsetting system. This raises serious questions about the auditing and accreditation system that underpins the carbon offsetting industry that has enabled such abuses to go unchecked for so many years.
SOMO shared the research findings with Wildlife Works in advance of publication in a detailed letter in August 2023. We note the findings of their investigation, which we believe are inadequate to address the abuses we uncovered.
Wildlife Works’ response to SOMO’s 4 November 2023 statement
On 5 November 2023, Wildlife Works added to its previous statement in response to SOMO’s statement.
The company complains that it is in the disciplinary phase of its investigation “which will soon be completed”. Wildlife Works accuses SOMO of publishing the report “in advance of learning the outcome of our investigation, which denies us the right to respond to the inaccuracies in their report”.
Wildlife Works explains that it hired Anjarwalla and Khanna, a Nairobi-based law firm, to conduct the investigation. The law firm then hired an investigative company “with specific expertise in gender-based abuse” that carried out the investigation.
According to Wildlife Works, the investigation team “were able to obtain findings that addressed all of the allegations in the Somo report, and no further allegations came to light”.
In their report, SOMO and the Kenya Human Rights Commission highlight one of the problems with Wildlife Work’s investigation. Employees were interviewed in Holiday Villa, a guest house in Maungu. According to several of the people interviewed for the report, “a key perpetrator coerced women into sex in this very same guesthouse”.
The report points out that,
Obviously, women with potentially painful and traumatic memories of this place might not feel free or safe to relive and discuss these experiences there. While Wildlife Works and the lawyers were likely unaware of the significance of the venue, giving consideration to such matters would be good practice for an investigation in gender-based and sexual abuses.
Wildlife Works states that,
We are fully committed to working with our gender-based consultant to provide effective mechanisms for any victims to safely come forward to us, or anonymously and to provide support and remedies to those victims.
In its most recent statement, Wildlife Works now states that the “sexual harassment misconduct that has been substantiated was perpetrated by one individual”.
Wildlife Works acknowledges that “Our existing grievance process did not identify this case of sexual harassment.”
The company states that the allegations in the letter from SOMO, “identified one perpetrator as responsible for the specific sexual harassment allegations”.
But The Guardian reports that,
In a letter sent in August to Wildlife Works from Somo and the KHRC, seen by the Guardian, the organisations alleged extensive sexual abuse at the project by multiple members of staff. They only named one alleged perpetrator but stated that the issue was extensive.
The report, and SOMO’s letter to Wildlife Works, makes very clear that the “perpetrators’ abuse of power is systemic and has been going on for years”. In addition the report notes that, “senior managers of Wildlife Works at Kasigau are aware of these issues”.
In an interview with The Guardian, SOMO’s executive director, said,
“We received accounts from women, who were current and past employees of Wildlife Works, who were sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, physically assaulted in sexual ways. Sexualised slurs were shouted at women.
“Perpetrators could act with relative impunity because they were senior males and nobody seemed to be able to touch them. One perpetrator in particular, the most named, goes to the wives of rangers once the rangers are stationed out on the property. The implication is: ‘Your husband has a job because of me. Do you want him to keep his job?’ That was very difficult for some of the men to talk about.”
It is not at all clear from the company’s responses so far, how Wildlife Works intends to address the widespread and systemic abuses of power that are revealed in the report by SOMO and the Kenya Human Rights Commission. Neither is it clear how Wildlife Works intends to ensure meaningful remedy for the families involved.