Anifa, a younger Congolese lady who labored at an Ebola therapy heart in Beni in the course of the outbreak, stated she couldn’t perceive WHO’s seeming excusal of misconduct.

“It’s a disgrace for WHO to present work to the sorts of males who don’t respect girls,” she stated, declining to share her full title, for worry it may damage her future job prospects. Anifa stated she had been supplied a job by a WHO physician in alternate for intercourse in the course of the Ebola epidemic, however refused. The AP doesn’t determine victims of sexual abuse.

“Maybe WHO doesn’t take into account us as a result of we’re Africans?” she requested. “So long as I’m alive, I’ll hate the complete World Well being Group till (the perpetrators) are charged and punished.”

Paula Donovan, co-leader of the Code Blue marketing campaign, which seeks to carry the U.N. accountable for sexual offenses, stated WHO member nations seemed the opposite means on the company’s sexual misconduct costs as a result of they may not afford to weaken the establishment in the course of the coronavirus pandemic.

“International locations couldn’t go after WHO as a result of it was doing what the U.S. and different wealthy nations wouldn’t do throughout COVID, which is attempt to determine get vaccines to the poor.”

She stated donor nations had seemingly made a disturbing calculation in regards to the prices of responding to world well being crises.

“It is rather miserable, however officers have primarily concluded that is the value that needs to be paid, that some girls are going to be sexually exploited.”

The U.N. report was centered on a case first reported by the AP in Could 2021, involving Dr. Jean-Paul Ngandu, who labored on the Ebola response in northeastern Congo in 2019. Shortly after his arrival, Ngandu met a younger lady at a neighborhood restaurant. The 2 had intercourse later that night, however the relationship soured, and the girl and her aunt complained to WHO that Ngandu had impregnated her.

AP obtained a replica of a notarized settlement between Ngandu and the girl, signed by two WHO staffers, through which he agreed to cowl her well being care prices and purchase her land.

After issues in regards to the Ngandu case had been raised to WHO’s Geneva headquarters, “a choice was made to not examine the criticism on the premise that it didn’t violate WHO’s (sexual exploitation and abuse) coverage,” the U.N. report stated. The report stated this was as a result of the girl was not a “beneficiary” of WHO, which means she didn’t obtain any humanitarian assist, and thus, didn’t qualify as a sufferer underneath WHO coverage.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stated repeatedly he’s “outraged” by experiences of sexual misconduct. However to this point, no senior staffers linked to the sexual abuse allegations in Congo’s 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak — the place greater than 80 staff underneath the path of WHO and different businesses had been discovered to have abused or exploited girls — have been fired.

A panel appointed by Tedros to research the Congo intercourse abuse claims discovered quite a few allegations of sexual assault by WHO staffers, together with girls compelled to have abortions by their attackers and a 13-year-old woman who stated a WHO driver took her to a lodge the place she was raped.

Tudi Diane Tumba, a coordinator at a Congolese group that advocates for girls’s rights, stated they had been nonetheless assessing complaints from younger girls and ladies who alleged they had been sexually abused or exploited by WHO officers in the course of the Ebola epidemic.

“It is rather shameful if the WHO is not going to sanction Dr. Ngandu,” Tumba stated. “I encourage girls to denounce and shout louder in order that these sexual abuses finish.” Ngandu was not fired; his contract was not renewed, however he was not reprimanded by WHO.

Some world well being consultants had been unconvinced by Tedros’ professed indignation.

“It undermines the whole integrity of WHO that nobody has misplaced their job over this,” stated Sophie Harman, a professor of worldwide politics at Queen Mary College in London. “If WHO is severe about gender equality, then it’s time for Tedros to go.”

WHO’s director of communications insisted the company was dedicated to addressing sexual misconduct.

“WHO is concentrated on persevering with the deep and broad strengthening of our insurance policies and practices, staffing, coaching and resourcing to forestall sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment,” stated Gabriella Stern.

After the Congo allegations grew to become public, WHO created a brand new division to handle sexual exploitation, headed by Dr. Gaya Gamhewage.

In her interview with U.N. investigators, Gamhewage stated that previous to being appointed, she had no data of the WHO’s sexual misconduct insurance policies and had not even learn them.

Cheng reported from London. Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.