The policy sets six minimum standards to protect anyone subject to sexual misconduct by WHO staff or collaborators

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new policy on preventing and addressing sexual misconduct, which places victims and survivors at its core and emphasizes zero tolerance for such behavior. It replaces a 2017 policy that audits found to have gaps.

New policy covers its staff and collaborators, such as consultants, contractors, and partners, in locations where WHO operates. The policy sets six minimum standards to protect anyone subject to sexual misconduct by WHO staff or collaborators. The policy outlines responsibilities of individual members of the workforce, managers, and the organization as a whole to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct.

“The suffering of the survivors of the abhorrent cases of sexual misconduct during the response to the 10th Ebola outbreak in DRC has been the catalyst for a profound transformation of WHO’s approach to preventing and responding to sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment,” , WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “This new policy builds on the work we have already done in implementing the recommendations of the Independent Commission, and is a key part of making ‘zero tolerance’ a reality and not merely a slogan.”

The new policy also provides several reporting options that protect the confidentiality of victims and survivors.

WHO has made substantial investments to strengthen its core capacities for preventing and responding to sexual misconduct and to eliminate the backlog in investigations of sexual misconduct. The backlog has since been cleared, and a benchmark of 120 days has been set by the investigations team to complete investigations of any new allegations of sexual misconduct or other forms of abusive conduct.

“With our new policy, we aim to ensure that our personnel and implementing partners do no harm to the people we serve or the people we serve alongside with,” Director of Prevention of and Response to Sexual Misconduct (PRS) Dr Gaya M Gamhewage said. “Going forward, we want to ensure that no victim goes unheard or unsupported; no perpetrator goes unpunished; no member of staff has an excuse for misconduct or for inaction; and no partner is exempt from meeting our standards.”

WHO’s new policy on preventing and addressing sexual misconduct is a key component of the comprehensive program WHO is rolling out in response to the findings of the Independent Commission that the WHO Director-General established in 2020 to look into allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse during the response to the 10th Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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