The World Health Organization says it has fired considered one of its medical doctors who confronted allegations, , that he had repeatedly engaged in sexual misconduct.
The U.N. well being company had come underneath strain and different international locations to do extra within the battle in opposition to sexual misconduct within the wake of the claims in opposition to the physician, Fijian nationwide Temo Waqanivalu.
“Dr. Temo Waqanivalu has been dismissed from WHO following findings of sexual misconduct against him and corresponding disciplinary process,” stated WHO spokeswoman Marcia Poole in a e-mail to the AP early Tuesday.
“Sexual misconduct of any kind by anyone working for WHO — be it as staff, consultant, partner — is unacceptable,” she added.
In January, the AP reported that Waqanivalu had been accused of sexually assaulting a girl at a Berlin convention in October and was flagged to senior WHO administrators years in the past for allegedly harassing one other staffer.
The earlier allegation did not lead to any important penalties for Waqanivalu, who headed a small workforce in WHO’s noncommunicable ailments division and had been getting ready to run for regional director of the Western Pacific.
According to confidential paperwork obtained by the AP, senior WHO administrators have been knowledgeable of a sexual harassment allegation made in opposition to Waqanivalu in 2018. The accuser was later knowledgeable that pursuing a proper investigation won’t be the best choice for her.
Waqanivalu was later given a casual warning that did not cite the lady who made the declare or his particular habits.
In interviews with WHO investigators, Waqanivalu “categorically” denied he had ever sexually assaulted anybody. He declined to remark to the AP.
In latest years, WHO has been tormented by quite a few stories of misconduct. In May 2021, the AP reported that senior WHO managers have been knowledgeable of intercourse abuse allegations throughout an however did little to cease it. A panel appointed by WHO later discovered that greater than 80 staff underneath WHO’s route sexually abused ladies.
The Western Pacific regional director that Waqanivalu was looking for to switch at WHO was placed on go away in August, months had accused him of racist and abusive habits that compromised the U.N. company’s response to COVID-19.
Last month, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the appointment of the regional director, Dr. Takeshi Kasai, had been terminated after an inner investigation resulted in “findings of misconduct.”
Source: www.anews.com.tr
