2023-04-24 20:13:00
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The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday that it had dismissed one of its senior officials for “sexual misconductfollowing at least three assault charges against him in recent years. The Fijian DoctorTemo Waqanivalu has been sacked from the WHO following allegations of sexual misconduct against him and the disciplinary processthat ensued, spokeswoman Marcia Poole told AFP in an email.
The WHO, which endeavors to practice a policy ofzero toleranceconcerning the reprehensible sexual behavior and the aggressions of which his collaborators would be guilty, did not provide details on the facts of which Dr. Temo Waqanivalu is accused. According to media reports, the practitioner, head of the non-communicable diseases division of the WHO, has been the subject of at least three allegations of sexual assault since 2017.
“Zero tolerance”
In January, the Associated Press identified him as the alleged perpetrator of a high-profile sexual assault during the WHO summit in Berlin in October 2022. A young British doctor, Rosie James, had to era told in a tweet “being sexually assaulted by a WHO staff memberduring the summit, and expressed the wish that the WHO investigates his case.
The director general of the organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had responded to his tweet in person, claiming to be “horrifiedby his testimony and claiming that the WHO had a policy of “zero tolerance for sexual assault“. According to the Associated Press, Temo Waqanivalu faced similar charges in 2018, with little impact on his career. In April, the Financial Times reported a third accusation against him, relating to an episode that took place in 2017. The WHO did not immediately confirm this information.
“Confidential mechanisms”
According to Marcia Poole, «any form of sexual misconduct by anyone working for WHO, staff member, consultant, partner, is unacceptable“. For a year and a half, she said,WHO is implementing a comprehensive program of reforms across the organization to prevent instances of sexual misconduct and ensure that there is no impunity if they occur and tolerance for inaction“. The WHO encourages all victims of sexual assault to come togetherconfidential mechanisms» put in place by the organization to deal with cases.
The Organization launched its program to prevent various forms of sexual misconduct after being criticized for its slow response to allegations of sexual exploitation and assaults against aid workers sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Ebola outbreak in 2018-2020. In 2021, an independent report established that 21 WHO staff were among 83 aid workers charged with assaulting and sexually exploiting dozens of people in the DRC during the Ebola outbreak.
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