KAMPALA – A woman who says she was harassed by a World Health Organization doctor during a recent Ebola outbreak in Congo said she was shocked that no senior officials were punished for the allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation involving dozens of women in the conflict-torn country were involved.
On Monday, the AP reported on a confidential UN report which apologized to senior staff for their mishandling of another case due to a “loophole” in the WHO’s definition of a victim of such behavior.
Anifa, a young Congolese woman who worked at an Ebola treatment center in Beni during the outbreak, said she couldn’t understand WHO’s seeming apology for wrongdoing.
“It’s a shame for the WHO to give jobs to men who don’t respect women,” she said, declining to give her full name for fear it might hurt her future job prospects. Anifa said she was offered a job by a WHO doctor in exchange for sex during the Ebola epidemic, but turned it down. The AP does not identify victims of sexual abuse.
“Maybe the WHO doesn’t look at us because we’re African?” she asked. “As long as I live, I will hate the entire World Health Organization until (the perpetrators) are charged and punished.”
Paula Donovan, co-leader of the Code Blue campaign, which seeks to hold the United Nations accountable for sex crimes, said WHO member countries have turned a blind eye to the agency’s sexual misconduct charges because they cannot afford to to weaken the institution during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Countries couldn’t go after the WHO because it was doing what the US and other rich countries wouldn’t do during COVID, which is figuring out how to get vaccines to the poor.”
She said donor countries may have made a worrying calculation of the cost of responding to global health crises.
“It’s very depressing, but officials have essentially come to the conclusion that this is the price to pay for some women to be sexually exploited.”
The UN report initially focused on one case reported by the AP in May 2021, at which Dr. Jean-Paul Ngandu, who was working on Ebola control in northeastern Congo in 2019. Shortly after his arrival, Ngandu met a young woman at a local restaurant. The two had sex later that evening but the relationship deteriorated and the woman and her aunt complained to the WHO that Ngandu had gotten her pregnant.
AP obtained a copy of a notarized agreement between Ngandu and the woman, signed by two WHO staffers, in which he agreed to pay for her healthcare costs and buy her land.
After concerns about the Ngandu case were raised at the WHO’s Geneva headquarters, “it was decided not to investigate the complaint as it does not violate WHO guidelines (sexual exploitation and abuse),” according to the UN Report. According to the report, this was because the woman was not a “beneficiary” of the WHO, meaning she was not receiving humanitarian assistance and therefore did not qualify as a victim under WHO policy.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has repeatedly said he is “outraged” by reports of sexual misconduct. But to date, no senior staff has been fired in connection with allegations of sex abuse in the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in Congo – in which more than 80 workers led by the WHO and other agencies abused or exploited women.
A panel set up by Tedros to investigate allegations of sexual abuse in Congo found numerous allegations of sexual assault by WHO staff, including women who were forced to have abortions by their attackers and a 13-year-old girl who said she was a WHO driver took her to a hotel where she was raped.
Tudi Diane Tumba, a coordinator for a Congolese organization working on women’s rights, said they were still reviewing complaints from young women and girls who claimed they had been sexually abused by WHO officials during the Ebola epidemic or been exploited.
“It is very shameful when the WHO should accuse Dr. Ngandu will not sanction,” Tumba said. “I encourage women to denounce and shout louder to stop this sexual assault.” Ngandu was not fired; His contract was not renewed, but he was not reprimanded by the WHO.
Some global health experts were unconvinced by Tedros’ declared outrage.
“It undermines the full integrity of the WHO that no one has lost their job because of it,” said Sophie Harman, professor of international politics at Queen Mary University in London. “If WHO is serious about gender equality, then it’s time for Tedros to go.”
WHO’s communications director insisted the agency was committed to cracking down on sexual misconduct.
“WHO is focused on continuing to deepen and broaden our policies and practices, staffing, training and resources to prevent sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment,” said Gabriella Stern.
After the Congo allegations became public, the WHO set up a new department to deal with sexual exploitation, headed by Dr. Gaya Gamhewage.
In her interview with UN investigators, Gamhewage said she was unaware of, and had not even read, the WHO’s guidelines on sexual misconduct prior to her appointment.
____
Cheng reported from London. Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, transcribed or redistributed without permission.