Francesco Guarascio & Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters), – Concerns over U.N.’s handling of sexual abuse scandal have led to the European Commission suspending funding for the World Health Organization’s programs in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Reuters obtained an Oct. 7, marked “SENSITIVE”, from the Commission, which informed the WHO that funding was being suspended for five WHO programmes including Ebola/COVID-19.

It totals more than 20.7 millions euros (or $24.02 million).

In an email to Reuters, the Commission confirmed this move and stated that its partners must have robust safeguards to prevent unacceptable incidents from happening as well as the ability to react quickly in these situations.

“The Commission temporarily suspends payments, and will not award new funding for humanitarian activities carried out by WHO in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” it said. It stated that this measure did not impact EU funding of WHO operations in other countries.

WHO representatives were not available for comment when I contacted them separately.

This EU funding suspension puts diplomatic pressure on Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO director-general) to further investigate the management negligence and violations documented and prevent them from ever happening again.

Tedros is widely believed to have sought a second term of five years in May. He has led the international response to COVID-19 which was the most severe public health crisis since 1900. Major donors, led by Germany and the United States, have called for fundamental reforms in order to improve the country’s ability to handle the scandal and outbreaks.

A commission independent of WHO found that around 83 workers in aid were involved with sexual coercion or abuse during the 10th Ebola epidemic. There were nine allegations of rape in the report.

The EU sent a copy to Code Blue Campaign as part of Aids-free World. This watchdog group aims to eliminate impunity for U.N. civil and military personnel committing sexual offences.

Tedros received a written letter from the European Commission, expressing concern about the “majority of the finding”.

This document seeks to assure victims that they have been compensated and protected; information about WHO’s Congo recruitment process including background checks; WHO actions to ensure perpetrators don’t rehired by UN and aid groups; an independent review of WHO “individual responsibilities for negligence in treating allegations and evidence”.

The Commission has suspended all payments to your organisation for activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, due to the “gravity” of the situation.

In its 30 day request for a WHO response, the Commission states that Brussels will take 30 more days to make a decision on whether payments should be resumed or suspended. It adds that no additional funding for the WHO’s activities in Congo will be granted at this time.

“VIOLENT CRIMES”

The WHO released last week its plans to combat any future misconduct of aid workers in field operations. They also pledged to make sure that the scandal will be “the catalyst to a profound change in WHO’s cultural culture”.

Gaya Gamhewage is the WHO’s acting director for prevention, response, and sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment. She told Reuters that more women had reported abuse by humanitarian workers since 2018 to 2020.

She stated that WHO was continuing to refer rape claims to national authorities and that WHO had sent all the case files to U.N. investigators located in New York. This was to ensure that all employees are taken into consideration.

Paula Donovan is co-director for AIDS-Free World’s Code Blue Campaign and was quoted in a statement after this month’s WHO management response plan. She stated that most of the perpetrators were not being pursued by the WHO.

“This is a giant step backward. The WHO has declared that dozens of crimes against UN personnel or top officials are simply violations of UN rules. It will prove to be an unconstitutional victory for UN impunity, if governments permit this.

She stated that “the entire process strengthens the false notion UN personnel and high-ranking officials are above law.”

($1 = 0.8617 euros)

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, writing assistance by Francesco Guarascio; Additional reporting provided by Francesco Guarascio at Brussels; editing by Nick Macfie