LONDON (AP) — When a doctor tweeted that she was “sexually assaulted” by a World Health Organization staffer at a Berlin convention in October, the U.N. company’s director-general assured her that WHO had “zero tolerance” for such misconduct.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus replied to her, saying he was “horrified” by the accusations of groping and unwelcome sexual advances. He provided his private help, WHO suspended the staffer and the company opened an investigation that’s nearing its conclusion.
But inner paperwork obtained by The Associated Press present the identical WHO staffer, Fijian doctor Temo Waqanivalu, was beforehand accused by one other girl of sexually harassing her a number of years in the past. That claim was flagged to senior company administrators and others in 2018, earlier than the accuser was knowledgeable that pursuing a proper investigation won’t be in her finest pursuits, in response to the paperwork.
A former WHO ombudsman who helped assess the earlier allegation against Waqanivalu famous the similarities between the 2 girls’s accusations, a number of years aside, and instructed the company had missed an opportunity to root out dangerous habits.
“I felt extremely angry and guilty that the dysfunctional (WHO) justice system has led to another assault that could have been prevented,” stated the staffer, who spoke to the AP on situation of anonymity for concern of shedding their job.
The earlier allegation didn’t derail Waqanivalu’s profession at WHO. As the brand new accusation surfaced, he was positioning himself for an exceptionally massive promotion with a really public position: He was looking for to change into WHO’s high official within the western Pacific, with assist from Fiji’s prime minister, different Pacific islands and WHO colleagues, messages present.
The regional director would assist international locations preventing issues together with dengue, malaria and coronary heart illness, in addition to coordinating the primary international response to any new rising outbreaks — as was the case when the coronavirus was first detected in China in late 2019.
Waqanivalu hung up when the AP contacted him for remark. He didn’t reply to a number of follow-up requests despatched by e mail and two messaging apps.
Waqanivalu “categorically” denied that he had ever sexually assaulted anybody, together with on the Berlin convention, in response to correspondence between him and WHO investigators that the AP obtained. He stated the accusations had been “false” and will “irreparably damage” his profession and repute.
The doctor stated there might have been “a mutual misunderstanding” in Berlin and that his accuser was probably “under the influence of alcohol.” He stated he was “bewildered” and “confused” by the sexual misconduct allegation.
The U.N. well being company stated in an e mail that it couldn’t touch upon particular person instances for confidentiality and due course of causes, however that sexual misconduct by anybody working for the company is “unacceptable.”
WHO stated its investigation into the Berlin convention grievance “is in its final stage” and {that a} report, which is not going to be publicly launched, would quickly be submitted to Tedros.
“Perpetrators of sexual misconduct face grave consequences, including dismissal,” WHO stated. It added that the names of perpetrators are entered right into a U.N. screening database, to keep away from their future employment.
In a speech posted to Twitter in December, Tedros stated that “sexual misconduct is particularly grave when the perpetrators are our own personnel.” He known as sexual misconduct by WHO staffers “a violation of the trust placed in WHO to serve public health.”
On Wednesday, hours after this story was revealed, WHO instructed staffers it was appointing members to its committee on “formal complaints of abusive conduct,” in response to an inner e mail. The committee, first introduced following earlier misconduct issues, will embrace 15 staffers, most of them designated by the U.N. company’s director-general.
The claims against Waqanivalu are the newest in a collection of misconduct accusations against folks working for WHO, which is remitted to guide the worldwide response to acute crises together with COVID-19 and Ebola.
In May 2021, the AP reported that senior WHO managers had been knowledgeable of sex abuse allegations throughout a Congo Ebola outbreak however did little to cease it. A panel appointed by WHO later discovered that greater than 80 employees underneath WHO’s course sexually abused girls. No senior WHO officers tied to the exploitation have been fired.
And WHO’s final regional director within the western Pacific — the individual Waqanivalu was looking for to interchange — was placed on go away in August, after AP reported that quite a few staffers had accused him of racist and abusive habits that compromised the U.N. company’s response to COVID-19.
In the approaching weeks, the company’s highest governing physique is assembly to set public well being priorities and to handle crucial administrative issues, together with sexual misconduct. The officers additionally might focus on how and when the election for the area’s subsequent director would possibly happen.
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The earlier accusation against Waqanivalu got here after a 2017 persistent ailments workshop in Japan, the place a WHO worker stated that Waqanivalu had harassed her at a post-work dinner and on different events. Her report was shared with senior WHO officers, in response to paperwork obtained by the AP.
“Under the table, (Waqanivalu) took off his shoes, lifted one of his legs and toe(s) between my legs,” the girl wrote within the 2018 report. “It took me a while to process what was actually happening.”
She left the restaurant and stated Waqanivalu adopted her to a close-by prepare station. That’s the place he grabbed her hand, requested if she was seeing anybody and questioned why she was not interested in him, she reported.
After she stated goodbye, Waqanivalu “proceeded to give me a hug, grabbing my buttocks with both of his hands and trying to kiss my lips,” the girl stated. She stated she turned her head to keep away from him and moved his fingers.
The girl is recognized within the paperwork, however the AP doesn’t sometimes identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually harassed until they arrive ahead publicly. The AP contacted the girl, however she declined to remark.
According to WHO protocols, her grievance ought to have been investigated by the group’s workplace of inner oversight, following steering from ombudsmen, who assist employees mediate personnel issues.
After submitting her confidential report back to WHO’s “integrity hotline” in July 2018, the case was “tossed around in (Geneva) for months” amongst officers tasked with misconduct claims, an ombudsman wrote to the girl in an e mail obtained by the AP.
“It seems our internal process is not efficient enough to address such cases,” the ombudsman stated.
Months after elevating her issues, the girl was knowledgeable by the WHO ombudman’s workplace that its director had determined to present Waqanivalu a normal “informal warning” that didn’t reference the alleged misconduct. Following that dialogue, the workplace of the ombudsman and ethics thought of the case closed, the girl wrote in an e mail to a WHO official.
In a follow-up message to a WHO ombudsman, the girl stated the company’s ethics workplace instructed her it might be troublesome to show a sexual harassment case, saying it would “compromise” her identify and that she seemingly lacked “hard evidence.” She stated she was additionally warned that Waqanivalu might file his personal grievance against her for “degrading/dishonouring” his identify and was instructed that urgent for an investigation “may not be the best option for me.”
WHO’s human assets director on the time instructed colleagues in a November 2018 e mail that the director of the company’s compliance, threat administration and ethics division had been knowledgeable of the allegations against Waqanivalu.
“He is aware of the case … (and has) the matter in hand,” the human assets director stated in an e mail obtained by AP.
It is unclear if any investigation was ever performed.
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In October, Waqanivalu sat on a panel on the World Health Summit in Berlin, a high-level convention with international heads of state.
In a resort foyer one night, quite a few folks had been having drinks, together with Waqanivalu and Dr. Rosie James, a younger British-Canadian doctor and former guide for WHO.
“We were talking about his work at WHO and he just started putting his hand on my bottom and keeping it there,” James instructed the AP. She stated she felt intimidated speaking to a senior supervisor on the group. “I felt this power dynamic and I was really uncomfortable,” she stated, explaining that she moved away to affix her pals, who instructed her Waqanivalu’s actions had been inappropriate.
“Somehow I ended up talking to him again and he was literally holding my bum cheek,” she stated. James stated Waqanivalu “firmly held my buttock in his hand multiple times (and) pressed his groin” into her. Before Waqanivalu left, she says he cornered her and repeatedly requested for her resort room quantity.
Later that evening, she tweeted concerning the encounter, saying that she was “sexually assaulted” and that “this was not the first time in the global health sphere that this has occurred.” WHO chief Tedros replied, pledging to do “everything we can to help you.”
James was later interviewed by WHO’s investigators. She stated WHO officers instructed her she wouldn’t be entitled to see its last investigation report. James additionally stated Tedros by no means personally adopted up instantly however stated the company’s communications director contacted her and that the 2 had lunch through the Berlin convention. She stated WHO additionally provided to reimburse her for any personal remedy prices associated to her encounter with Waqanivalu.
Waqanivalu instructed WHO investigators he greeted James that night “by tapping her on her left upper arm” and didn’t consider that was inappropriate, in response to a report of the dialogue obtained by AP. He acknowledged asking for her resort room quantity, saying he made the request “to connect, if need be.”
“I recall that we faced each other the whole time with about an arm’s length distance between us,” Waqanivalu instructed investigators, including that the dialog lasted about 5 minutes. He stated he believed folks within the group, together with James, “were under the influence of alcohol” and that he remembered the occasion as “a good evening mixing around with everyone.”
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Waqanivalu is a unit head at WHO’s Geneva headquarters, overseeing a small crew within the non-communicable ailments division. He has been featured in a number of WHO Facebook videos and in addition sits on the company’s well being, security and wellbeing committee.
Last fall, he put himself ahead as a candidate to be WHO’s subsequent director for the western Pacific, a area that has 1 / 4 of the world’s inhabitants.
“The experience and expertise I have gathered over the years … have given me the relevant credentials to lead the Western Pacific,” Waqanivalu wrote in a September letter addressed to Fiji’s then-Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama and different officers.
About every week after the Berlin convention, the chair of WHO’s high governing physique within the area instructed Waqanivalu in a message seen by the AP that his identify was talked about “as a potential candidate” to be the following regional director. The chair messaged him to say that Pacific well being ministers deliberate to push for a candidate from the area.
“That would be an opportunity for you, Dr. Temo,” Waqanivalu was instructed.
Correspondence obtained by the AP between Waqanivalu and a senior staffer in Bainimarama’s workplace additionally present Waqanivalu requested about formalizing his candidacy.
A memo from the prime minister’s workplace dated Oct. 17 and marked “approved,” confirmed “Fiji’s proposed candidacy” of Waqanivalu to the place. A handwritten word stated officers ought to coordinate with the nation’s ministry of well being and inform all different Pacific nations of Waqanivalu’s candidacy. Bainimarama, who misplaced a December election in Fiji, didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark from the AP.
Waqanivalu’s candidacy additionally had supporters inside WHO itself. A WHO-produced election-style marketing campaign brochure created in September — earlier than the Berlin convention — outlined his imaginative and prescient for the area and was aimed to garner votes from member international locations within the area.
“Under my leadership, WHO will empower people to serve within their countries,” the doc reads.
Paula Donovan is co-director of the Code Blue marketing campaign, which seeks to carry U.N. personnel accountable for sexual offenses. She stated the allegations concerning Waqanivalu had been unsurprising however deeply worrying.
She stated it was significantly regarding that an official accused of sexual harassment had been probably in line for such a distinguished management position and that WHO seemingly had did not uphold its personal “zero tolerance” coverage for unprofessional habits.
“It’s patently false that WHO does not condone sexual misconduct,” Donovan stated, calling for its member international locations to overtake the company’s inner buildings in order that its officers are held accountable. “When WHO keeps this kind of stuff under wraps, they are giving sexual predators carte blanche to do it again with impunity.”
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely chargeable for all content material.
