Dr. Maurizio Barbeschi
The Telegraph reported on September 7 that a senior scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO) was fired after being investigated for sexual misconduct, including accusations that he took off his trousers in front of female colleagues.
Previously, Dr. Maurizio Barbeschi, head of the health security protocol unit and senior advisor to WHO's health emergencies program executive director Mike Ryan, was placed on leave from late 2021 after a series of complaints against him dating back to 2000.
"Dr Maurizio Barbeschi has been dismissed from WHO after being found guilty of sexual misconduct," WHO spokeswoman Marcia Poole said. WHO will add Barbeschi's name to a database that will prevent other UN agencies from hiring him, Poole said.
Mr. Barbeschi started working at WHO in 2003, gradually rising through the ranks to become senior manager of the health emergencies program during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, former colleagues and WHO consultants say his misconduct was well-known for a long time, affecting the behavioral culture of his entire team.
The allegations against him include stripping down to meet a younger female colleague in a hotel room, upsetting one woman so much that she quit her job, and allegedly telling a group of women to “put on their bikinis” during a meeting.
A woman who spoke out about Mr Barbeschi's behaviour said she was relieved to hear he had lost his job, but was "extremely disappointed" with the way the complaint was handled.
“There is no reason why this process has taken nearly three years to resolve. I hope that WHO will learn important lessons from these investigations and will improve the way it handles similar incidents,” the unnamed woman said.
Mr. Barbeschi was not immediately available for comment. His dismissal comes amid a crackdown on sexual misconduct by WHO and other U.N. agencies.
Why did WHO fire the former head of the investigation team into the origin of Covid-19?
In 2021, a WHO commission found that 21 of the 83 humanitarian workers accused of sexually abusing women during the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo were WHO staff. The remaining 62 were from other humanitarian agencies.
Source link
Comment (0)