When a health care provider 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 misconduct.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mentioned he was “horrified” by the accusations of groping and unwelcome sexual advances and provided his private help. WHO suspended the staffer and opened an investigation.
But inner paperwork obtained by The Associated Press present the identical WHO staffer, Fijian doctor Temo Waqanivalu, was beforehand accused of comparable sexual misconduct in 2018.
A former WHO ombudsman who helped assess the earlier allegation towards Waqanivalu mentioned the company had missed an opportunity to root out dangerous conduct.
“I felt extremely angry and guilty that the dysfunctional (WHO) justice system has led to another assault that could have been prevented,” mentioned the staffer, who spoke to the AP on situation of anonymity for worry of dropping their job.
The earlier allegation did not derail Waqanivalu’s profession at WHO. As the brand new accusation surfaced, he was looking for to turn into WHO’s high official within the western Pacific with high-level assist, paperwork present.
AP
In the approaching weeks, the company’s highest governing physique is assembly to set public well being priorities and should talk about how and when the election for the area’s subsequent director may happen.
Waqanivalu hung up when the AP contacted him for remark.
He “categorically” denied that he had ever sexually assaulted anybody, together with on the Berlin convention, in keeping with correspondence between him and WHO investigators that the AP obtained.
WHO mentioned its report into the Berlin convention grievance “is in its final stage” and would quickly be submitted to Tedros.
On Wednesday, hours after this story was printed, WHO advised staffers it was forming a committee on “formal complaints of abusive conduct,” in keeping with an inner electronic mail. The committee is to incorporate 15 staffers, most of them designated by the U.N. company’s director-general.
The claims towards Waqanivalu are the newest in a sequence of misconduct accusations at WHO. The company’s final regional director within the western Pacific was placed on depart in August, months after AP reported that staffers had accused him of abusive conduct that compromised the U.N. company’s response to COVID-19.
The earlier accusation towards Waqanivalu got here after a 2017 workshop in Japan, the place a WHO worker mentioned Waqanivalu had harassed her at a post-work dinner.
“Under the table, (Waqanivalu) took off his shoes, lifted one of his legs and toe(s) between my legs,” the lady wrote in a 2018 report that was shared with senior WHO officers.
She left the restaurant and mentioned Waqanivalu adopted her. After she mentioned goodbye, Waqanivalu “proceeded to give me a hug, grabbing my buttocks with both of his hands and trying to kiss my lips,” the lady mentioned. The AP doesn’t sometimes title individuals who say they’ve been sexually harassed except they arrive ahead publicly.
After submitting her confidential report back to WHO in July 2018, the case was “tossed around in (Geneva) for months,” one of many ombudsmen wrote to the lady in an electronic mail.
The lady was later knowledgeable that Waqanivalu could be given an “informal warning” and that the case was thought of closed. She wrote in an electronic mail to a WHO ombudsman that the company’s ethics workplace advised her that urgent for an investigation won’t be her most suitable choice.
In October, Waqanivalu sat on a panel on the World Health Summit in Berlin as a part of a high-level convention with attendees together with WHO chief Tedros.
In a lodge foyer one night, quite a few individuals have 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 advised the AP.
James mentioned Waqanivalu “firmly held my buttock in his hand multiple times (and) pressed his groin” into her. Before Waqanivalu left, she says he repeatedly requested for her lodge room.
Later that evening, she tweeted concerning the encounter, prompting WHO chief Tedros to pledge to do “everything we can to help you.”
James mentioned WHO investigators interviewed her, however that Tedros by no means adopted up. WHO provided to pay for any non-public remedy prices linked to the incident, James mentioned.
In Waqanivalu’s interview with WHO investigators, he mentioned he greeted James “by tapping her on her left upper arm,” in keeping with a document of the dialogue obtained by AP. He acknowledged asking for her lodge room quantity, saying he made the request “to connect, if need be.”
Waqanivalu advised investigators he believed individuals within the group, together with James, “were under the influence of alcohol.”
Last fall, Waqanivalu, who oversees a small group in non-communicable ailments at WHO’s headquarters, put himself ahead as a candidate to be WHO’s subsequent director for the western Pacific.
“The experience and expertise I have gathered over the years … have given me the relevant credentials,” Waqanivalu wrote in a September letter to Fiji’s then-Prime Minister.
About per week after the Berlin convention, the chair of WHO’s high governing physique within the area advised Waqanivalu in a message seen by the AP that his title was talked about “as a potential candidate” to be the following regional director.
“That would be an opportunity for you, Dr. Temo,” Waqanivalu was advised.
A memo from the prime minister’s workplace dated Oct. 17 confirmed “Fiji’s proposed candidacy” of Waqanivalu to the place.
A WHO-produced election-style marketing campaign brochure created in September outlined Waqanivalu’s imaginative and prescient.
“Under my leadership, WHO will empower people to serve within their countries,” the doc reads.
Paula Donovan, co-director of the Code Blue marketing campaign, which seeks to carry U.N. personnel accountable for sexual offenses, mentioned the allegations concerning Waqanivalu have been deeply worrying.
She mentioned it was significantly regarding that an official accused of sexual harassment had been probably in line for such a outstanding management function and that WHO had did not uphold its personal “zero tolerance” coverage for unprofessional conduct.
“It’s patently false that WHO does not condone sexual misconduct,” Donovan mentioned, 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.”