To prevent a recurrence of sexual violence committed by WHO employees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the main donor countries demanded, this Friday, “the total commitment” of the organization and its leaders.
“We will ensure that the commitments made by the WHO leadership will lead to greater responsibility, more capacity for action and rapid change”, underlines a joint declaration signed by the United States, the Union Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom.
“Structural failures” and “individual negligence”
This follows the release on Wednesday of a devastating report for the World Health Organization (WHO), which establishes that 21 of its employees, among 83 alleged perpetrators of sexual violence, have committed such abuses against dozens of people in the DRC during the Ebola epidemic of 2018-2020. The report of the independent commission of inquiry, whose constitution was announced by WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus only after revelations from the agency The Humanitarian and the Reuters Foundation, denounces “structural failures” and “individual negligence”.
Doctor Tedros, who is running for a second term in 2022 and who notably had the public support of the majority of European countries, said he was “sorry” to the victims and promised “severe consequences” to those responsible just after the publication of the report. When asked by a reporter on Wednesday if he intended to quit, he dodged. “I have been there 14 times and this problem has not been raised. Maybe I should have asked questions, ”he admitted, however.
Too little, too slowly
All this was not enough to reassure donor countries, who believe that the main officials of the organization have reacted too little and too slowly, despite their insistence. The signatories of the declaration said they were “horrified” by the findings of the report, which revealed dozens of cases of sexual exploitation in exchange for the promise of work, but also nine rapes. They demand a detailed and in-depth investigation to determine how it is possible that these acts were not reported “neither to WHO management nor to member countries”. The signatories are also making it very clear that they will follow this issue closely.
“We will work directly with the WHO on specific steps the WHO needs to take to ensure zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse and to put victims at the heart of its concerns when responding to this type of abuse.” accusations ”, underlines the joint statement. This is the second time that the main donor countries of the WHO have intervened in such a spectacular and firm manner in this dossier. At the end of May, some fifty WHO Member States had publicly expressed their frustration at the slowness of investigations and the lack of transparency.
Consequences
The signatories of the declaration nevertheless welcomed the fact that the WHO is committed to implementing the recommendations of the commission of inquiry and to getting rid of those responsible for the violence as well as those responsible who should have intervened. As soon as the report was published, the organization terminated the contracts of four of them it still employed and the others had short-term contracts, explained Dr Tedros. They will be banned from all future jobs.
In addition, the WHO will forward allegations of rape to national authorities in the DRC for investigation, as well as to the countries of origin of the alleged perpetrators. Two senior officials were placed on administrative leave “and we are taking measures to ensure that other people likely to be involved are temporarily relieved of any decision-making role” in this case, had promised Dr. Tedros.