Panel finds 80 alleged abuse cases tied to WHO’s Congo work

By MARIA CHENG and AL-HADJI KUDRA MALIRO
Associated Press

BENI, Congo (AP) — A panel commissioned by the World Health Organization has identified more than 80 alleged cases of sex abuse during the U.N. health agency’s response to an Ebola outbreak in Congo. The cases involve allegations implicating 20 WHO staff members. The panel’s report exposes the most widescale sexual wrongdoing linked to a U.N. institution in years, harkening back to the years when blue-helmeted peacekeepers were regularly accused of and found to have misused their positions for sexual misconduct. The panel released its findings on Tuesday, months after an Associated Press investigation found senior WHO management was informed of multiple abuse claims in 2019 but failed to stop the harassment and promoted one of the managers involved.