The World Health Organization has launched this Friday its new policy to prevent and address “inappropriate” sexual conduct by its staff and collaborators, which places victims and survivors “at the center”, establishes “strict” standards of “tolerance zero” and defends that “there can be no excuse for inappropriate sexual conduct.
This is stated by this UN agency in a statement in which it specifies that the new policy, which comes after knowing cases of sexual abuse by its staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo several years ago, replaces one launched in 2017 in which “investigations and audits” found “gaps” to address “issues facing victims and survivors of sexual misconduct.”
In this regard, its director general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, underlines the “suffering” of the survivors of the “abominable” cases of “misconduct” during the WHO’s response to the tenth outbreak of Ebola in the country ” has been the catalyst for a profound transformation of WHO’s approach to preventing and responding to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.”
“This new policy builds on the work we have already done in implementing the Independent Commission’s recommendations and is a key part of making ‘zero tolerance’ a reality and not just a slogan,” he says of a document that establishes six “minimum” standards to “protect” any person who is the victim of “inappropriate sexual conduct” by WHO staff or collaborators.
The policy outlines the responsibilities of workers, managers, and the organization as a whole to “prevent and respond” to these types of practices and provides various reporting options that “protect the confidentiality of victims and survivors.” Furthermore, it does not require a person to be a direct or indirect recipient of WHO to be “recognized” as a victim or survivor of sexual misconduct.
In this sense, the director of Prevention and Response to Inappropriate Sexual Conduct of the WHO, Gaya M Gamhewage, pointed out that the objective is to “guarantee” that its staff and partners “do not harm the people they serve or people with which it serves”. “Moving forward, we want to ensure that no victim is left unheard or unsupported, no perpetrator goes unpunished, no staff member has an excuse for misconduct or inaction, and no partner is exempt from meeting our standards,” it said. she.
The new policy is a “key” component of the comprehensive program that the WHO is implementing in response to the findings of the Independent Commission that its director-general established in 2020 to examine allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse during the response to the tenth Ebola outbreak. in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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