Excellencies, dear colleagues, and friends,
Welcome to this year's first quarterly briefing on WHO's work to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct.
We are now in the second year of our implementation plan.
Before updating you on our current efforts and the challenges ahead, let me begin by recounting our progress in 2023.
We launched both new and revised policies to support our zero tolerance goals, as well as a new code of ethics.
We developed and are implementing the end-to-end sexual misconduct incident management system and the PRS Accountability framework;
and we published an updated Emergency Response Framework that integrates standards and benchmarks for preventing and responding to sexual misconduct in emergencies.
We ensured that all WHO country offices completed a risk assessment and mitigation exercise for sexual misconduct.
We continue to integrate PRS into health emergency operations, prioritizing grade 2 and 3 emergencies.
We completed the recruitment of our full-time fixed term personnel – 6 in the Regional Offices and 15 in priority countries.
We expanded our global PRS network to 415 personnel with about one in three of them working full time on PRS.
We continued outreach to all WHO personnel to make sure everyone knows the standards of conduct, how to report concerns and the tools and resources they can use for prevention and response.
We collaborated with UN and humanitarian partners to support system-wide changes, including funding for coordinators in priority countries and improving community-based reporting mechanisms.
We continued to work with UN partners to address sexual misconduct risks by implementing partners.
We continued to deliver on our commitment to transparency and accountability, sharing information on incidents and disciplinary actions on our website, which is updated monthly.
These efforts are already showing initial results.
The latest report on institutional capacity for sexual harassment by the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) scored WHO at a high level in 8 out of 10 categories.
The Annual UN survey on sexual exploitation and abuse managed by the Office of the Special Coordinator, in which nearly 3 000 WHO field personnel participated, also provides promising data on high levels of knowledge, attitude and good practice.
Both these surveys also provided us with valuable information about where we need to better focus our efforts. This includes the need to strengthen reporting mechanisms and communication on services available to survivors and victims in the field.
At the end of 2023, I was pleased to host the first-ever WHO PRS review conference, which brought together Member States, UN and humanitarian actors, civil society, donors, and academic experts and media, along with more than 1 500 members of the WHO workforce.
I thank Member States for their support throughout this multiyear effort.
My report to the Executive Board detailed our progress, and I appreciated the frank conversations with Member States at the PBAC and EB in January.
My team is already following up on the recommendations you offered. The director for PRS, Dr Gaya Gamhewage, will summarize some of those actions later in the discussion.
Let me be frank: the journey we have been on since the first allegations of sexual misconduct in DRC came to light has been difficult.
As we enter this second year of our implementation plan, let me re-affirm WHO's steadfast commitment to preventing sexual misconduct, and to fully addressing it when it occurs.
We have done our best to provide all those identified by the Independent Commission with the best possible support.
WHO has provided support to 115 survivors, including those targeted by alleged perpetrators from WHO, as well as from other entities.
The support we have provided over the past two years has been innovative and aimed at empowering survivors, including, among other things, access to legal aid.
As I indicated in my reports to PBAC and the Executive Board, the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services has now concluded its investigations of the cases referred by WHO.
Only one report remains outstanding. Of the 23 alleged perpetrators identified as affiliated with WHO, nine have been found guilty of sexual misconduct.
My colleagues will provide you with more detailed data during this briefing.
In 2024, we will keep pushing ahead on our journey.
As you will hear from my colleagues, this year we need to build on and expand the work done in 2023, and operationalize our efforts across all locations where WHO works.
While our teams across the world continue to implement the three-year strategy, within WHO, I will lead the culture change that we need to underpin our efforts.
I am also closely monitoring the end-to-end sexual misconduct incident management system to make sure that we meet our ambitious benchmarks.
It is critical that we bring justice and closure to survivors without undue delay and discipline perpetrators swiftly, while respecting due process and the rights of those involved.
Your continued guidance and support are critical to achieving these goals. As always, we look forward to your comments, questions and guidance.
I thank you.