UPDATE 1-Major donors urge WHO’s Tedros to act swiftly on Congo sex scandal
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* More than 80 aid workers linked to sexual abuse in Congo
* Diplomats cite “management failure” but see Tedros re-election
* Tedros promises “zero tolerance” for sexual exploitation (updates after release of US-led statement)
By Stéphanie Nebehay, Hereward Holland and Emma Farge
GENEVA, Oct. 1 (Reuters) – The head of the World Health Organization came under pressure from US-led donors to act swiftly on a damning report on a sexual assault scandal on Friday which engulfed him and other aid agencies in the Democratic Republic of the Congolese.
More than 80 aid workers, a quarter of whom were employed by the WHO, have been implicated in sexual abuse and exploitation during an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, an independent commission said on Tuesday.
The investigation, launched by WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was sparked by an investigation last year by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and The New Humanitarian in which more than 50 women accused aid workers of the WHO and other agencies to demand sex in exchange for jobs between 2018-2020.
The report – delayed by a month due to new allegations and an expanded investigation – was released a week after the nomination period for the next WHO Director-General closed.
Donors called for swift action in a joint statement.
“We expect full commitment from the WHO to prevent and combat such acts, including through fundamental WHO reforms,” ââsaid the US mission to the United Nations in Geneva on behalf of Australia, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the European Union. the Union and its Member States.
Countries have expressed support for “WHO’s immediate action to terminate the contracts of suspected perpetrators still in office” and to demand that others take administrative leave pending further investigations.
“… we urge WHO to initiate an immediate, in-depth and detailed assessment of the institutional policies, business processes, leadership culture and circumstances in WHO that made this happen, including for cases that go unreported to WHO leadership and member states, “the joint statement added.
France had already urged Tedros to keep its commitment to submit an action plan responding to the recommendations of the investigation within 10 days.
Donors are funding WHO’s operations around the world, from tackling the COVID-19 pandemic to routine programs for chronic diseases such as diabetes and malnutrition.
Tedros, who visited Congo 14 times during the Ebola outbreak, told a press conference on Tuesday that no one had raised the allegations. He again pledged “zero tolerance” for sexual exploitation and apologized to the victims, but declined to say whether he was considering resigning.
He won broad support for a second five-year term, officially appointed by 17 EU members, including major donors Germany and France, and backed by countries from other regions, diplomats said. to Reuters on September 23 when the deadline expires. The United States also supports it, they said.
His native Ethiopia did not support his candidacy for re-election, due to friction over the Tigray conflict. He is still expected to be re-elected following the scandal, diplomats said.
According to WHO rules, envelopes must remain sealed until after October 29, which means it is possible that a country has nominated another candidate in the May election.
Western diplomats have expressed concern over the “management failure” of the WHO during sexual violence in Congo. Middle managers have been criticized but the upper echelon, including Tedros, has emerged without being accused or directly linked, they added.
“The report is so bad. But it seems to erase it, and the top management, even by name,” a Western diplomat told Reuters. “Tedros really needs to do his part, show leadership and act as soon as possible.”
Another Western diplomat said: “It is sobering, like a throwback to another era.” She added: “I have no reason to doubt that Tedros is committed to dealing with it.”
A senior official in Kenya rejected the idea that his government would withdraw support for Tedros’ re-appointment.
âReally? Isn’t that a bit silly?â Macharia Kamau, senior secretary of Kenya’s Foreign Ministry, said in a text message when asked if Kenya’s stance on Tedros had changed.
Uganda’s foreign minister Okello Oryem told Reuters that “Tedros is an African candidate” and that Uganda would not withdraw its support.
“The NGOs making these allegations come from Western countries. Some of them may not want Tedros to be there. It could be a plot by some Western countries to deny Africa this position,” he said. declared.
“Tedros cannot be held responsible for something that happened thousands of miles away in Congo.”
UNITED NATIONS IMMUNITY?
The commission found that at least 21 of the 83 alleged perpetrators were employed by the WHO and that the abuses, which included nine allegations of rape, were committed by national and international staff.
A spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said he was seeking information on aid workers from agencies other than WHO involved in the abuses, but declined to say whether his own staff was involved.
“We remain firm in our commitment to end sexual exploitation and abuse in the aid sector, to provide assistance to victims and to hold perpetrators to account,” he said.
Congolese Minister of Health Jean-Jacques Mbungani Mbanda said it was now up to the authorities to “take into account all the alleged perpetrators of such wrongdoing”.
A former senior UN official who worked in Congo during the Ebola crisis said: “They should be fired, deprived of their UN immunity and turned over to national prosecuting authorities. They have committed crimes in that country and are subject to country sanctions. “
“It’s an endemic problem at the UN, so it’s not peculiar to the WHO, and so it’s not peculiar to Tedros.”
Most United Nations personnel enjoy functional immunity, which means that they cannot be prosecuted for anything they have done in the course of their work. But the secretary general has the power to lift this immunity if it “would hinder the course of justice”.
Activists said sexual abuse and harassment was common in Congo and called for reforms. There have been numerous incidents of alleged sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers in several missions in Africa over the past decade.
“… WHO and other United Nations agencies should now implement the report’s recommendations and take all necessary measures to prevent such abuses from happening again, in the DRC or elsewhere,” said Jean-Mobert Senga. , researcher on the Congo at Amnesty International. (Additional reporting by Maggie Fick in Nairobi, Elias Biryabarema in Kampala and John Irish in Paris; Writing by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Nick Macfie and Alison Williams)
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