Marco Borsato Resigns as War Child Ambassador

War Child has been informed by Dutch singer and artist Marco Borsato that he is resigning his ambassadorship with War Child after being accused in the Netherlands of sexual misconduct with a minor.

For War Child, the safety and dignity of children and youth always come first. All our staff, our ambassadors, volunteers and partners must follow a strict code of conduct, at all times, without exception. War Child has zero tolerance for any form of misconduct.

War Child has received no complaints about Borsato’s conduct towards children or youth. As far as we’re aware, reports of alleged misconduct are not related to us.

We take any accusation of a person working with War Child harming a child through their behavior extremely seriously. This kind of behavior is utterly unacceptable. If someone violates our code of conduct, this always carries consequences. This applies to everybody who works at War Child or represents us, in any role.

"We do everything we can to ensure that children and youth feel safe. That is what our work is all about," says Ernst Suur, director of War Child in the Netherlands. "We have extensive preventative measures in place to ensure that everyone at War Child treats children and young people with respect and dignity at all times.”

This means, for example, that staff never work alone with a child and that other staff must always be present. Members of staff must be well versed in War Child's code of conduct and are obliged to attend regular integrity and child safeguarding trainings. Our ambassadors must obey precisely the same rules and take the same precautions.

War Child urges everyone to immediately report any suspicion of a member of staff not treating a child appropriately. Every complaint is treated with the utmost seriousness and is investigated if necessary.