London-based humanitarian lawyer Andrew MacLeod had warned authorities for years a small number of aid sector workers had been causing harm to the people they were supposed to protect.
So he was not surprised when reports emerged last week senior staff from Oxfam hired prostitutes for parties in a Haitian villa rented by the organisation following a devastating earthquake in 2010.
"Many people have been blowing the whistle for over 30 years," he said.
"Whistleblowers have been drummed out of their organisations, they've been chastised and they haven't been listened to.
"Finally we're listening to whistleblowers, finally we're listening to the victims."
Mr MacLeod was involved in several humanitarian teams in conflict and natural disaster zones around the world, including Pakistan where he was chief of the United Nations' Emergency Co-ordination Centre.
While there are no specific allegations of underage sexual behaviour in the Oxfam scandal, Mr MacLeod said the aid industry remained a magnet to predatory child sex offenders.
"Because aid agencies haven't got the best in-class recruitment processes in training, prevention, detection, and prosecution, the signals sent to predatory paedophiles is it's a soft touch," he said.
"Therefore, they hunt out these aid agencies, and that's why the greatest failing isn't the individual perpetrator, it's the CEOs, trustees and boards of charities that have not put in place the systems to stop this."
Mr MacLeod called on charities to conduct more rigorous background checks on potential staff and to report any offending members to police both in their country of origin, and where any offence took place.
"It's a problem in every charity in every country," he said.
"This is a global issue. Has the industry done enough? No.
"This has to stop because we can't treat people in the developing world as disposable people.
"When there's an accusation, they need to refer them to police for prosecution because until we get people in jail there won't be change."
Oxfam Asia abuse claims
Mr MacLeod's comments came as a senior Oxfam official said she was aware of past claims of sexual abuse involving staff in Asia.
In an interview with the BBC, Lan Mercado said the cases took place before she became Oxfam Asia Regional Director two years ago.
"There were cases in the Philippines, there were also cases in Bangladesh, there were whistleblowers in Bangladesh, there was also a case in Nepal," she said.
Ms Mercado added the case in Haiti showed more work needed to be done within the organisation.
"The funny thing about cases like this is that we always see them as reputational risks," she said.
"But the way to manage reputational risk is not to keep silent ... we need to be thinking about the reputation of the sector as a whole."
Oxfam said it would introduce a package of measures to strengthen its vetting and induction of staff.
The charity said after investigating the allegations in 2011 it fired four staff members while three more resigned.
Oxfam International executive director Winnie Byanyima said significant improvements had been made.
"What happened in Haiti would not pass our rules and our systems today," she said.
"But we still have more to do and I'm determined that we're going to improve and never will we allow this to happen as leaders in the organisation."
Haitian lawmakers have requested the government suspend Oxfam from operating there as a federal investigation gets underway.
"We are going to ask the Haitian State, in accordance with the law, to temporarily remove the organisation's permission and for the government to open an investigation," Alfredo Antoine, from Haiti's Planning and External Cooperation Commission, said.
"If the allegations are confirmed, the victims need to file a complaint."
Actress Minnie Driver has stood down as a celebrity ambassador for Oxfam, saying she was "nothing short of horrified" by the allegations.
But Mr MacLeod said the cases should not stop people from donating to charities because they still make a huge difference.
"If you want to know if your charity is taking this seriously, ask them one question: 'How many of your staff have you reported to the police?' If the answer is zero, then they're not taking this matter seriously," he said.
"But don't rob from the people in need. Re-allocate that funding to another charity that you can give your hope and faith to."
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