The head of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) announced Monday a “serious” internal investigation is underway into allegations the U.N. health agency allowed a top official in the Western Pacific to engage in racist, unethical and abusive behavior.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the globalist agency was first made aware of staff complaints about the reported misconduct of Dr. Takeshi Kasai in late 2021.
“We take these this allegations seriously and we have acted with urgency,” said Tedros. He revealed W.H.O. headquarters heard of the claims in late 2021 and was now “following due process with the cooperation of the staff member,” without specifying Kasai.
France’s diplomatic mission said that if the allegations are proven to be true, the possible consequences include the termination of the W.H.O. director’s contract, AP reports.
A recent investigation by the Associated Press found W.H.O. staffers alleged Kasai, the agency’s top director in the Western Pacific, engaged in unethical, racist and abusive behavior, undermining W.H.O.’s efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic, according to an internal complaint filed last October.
The complaints were also emailed to senior W.H.O. leaders last week and describe a “toxic atmosphere” with “a culture of systemic bullying” at WHO’s regional headquarters in the Philippines.
Recordings obtained by the AP also showed Kasai, who heads a vast region that includes China and Japan, made derogatory remarks about his staff based on nationality during meetings.
Kasai denied the allegations.
Lawrence Gostin, of Georgetown University, meanwhile praised Tedros as “the moral conscience” of the global coronavirus pandemic.
“But the only way you can have credibility in your moral standing is if you’re leading an organization which itself is behaving at the highest ethical standards and too often, that hasn’t been the case with W.H.O.,” he said.
The W.H.O. staffers who first reported the claims of abuse said they have not been informed of any investigation.
The allegations of racism at the highest level of the W.H.O. come just six months after donors and diplomats from member nations are voicing “serious concerns” about sexual abuse allegations emanating from W.H.O.’s mission to fight the 2018-2019 Ebola epidemic in the Congo, as Breitbart News reported.
W.H.O. is one of three such agencies accused of abusing women in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the Ebola outbreak, along with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNICEF.
All of those organizations have ostensibly been investigating their sex abuse scandals since late 2020 and are yet to make any reports or public admissions.
In 2014, almost 100 girls in the Central African Republic said they were sexually abused by international peacekeepers. The U.N. announced an investigation into allegations of rape and assault.
In 2011, several Oxfam staff were accused of sexual exploitation and abuse of women believed to be prostitutes in Chad in 2006.
In 2002, aid workers for more than 40 agencies, including the UNHCR and Save the Children in West Africa, were involved in extensive sexual exploitation of refugee children, offering food rations in return for favors.
AP contributed to this story
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