THE head of the World Health Organization apologised Tuesday after independent investigators probing allegations of sexual abuse in the DR Congo by the UN agency’s staff issued a damning indictment citing “clear structural failures” and “individual negligence.”
“This is a dark day for WHO,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said after the report into the accusations against local and international personnel deployed in the country to fight an Ebola outbreak from 2018 to 2020.
The commission interviewed dozens of women who said they were offered work in exchange for sex, or were victims of rape.
“The first thing I want to say to the victims and survivors… I am sorry,” Tedros told a news conference.
“It is my top priority that the perpetrators are not excused but held to account,” added Tedros, 56, who will seek a second term at the head of the powerful UN agency based in Geneva.
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