Thank you Chair.
My remarks will relate to agenda item 21.1, on the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, and agenda item 25.4, on reform of the Office of Internal Oversight Services.
We are grateful for this opportunity to update you on our work to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, for which we are now using the umbrella term "sexual misconduct".
I'm pleased to say that we have made steady progress in the implementation of the Management Response Plan, with more than 90% of the 150 activities completed.
While we still have a long way to go, I would like to highlight some of the achievements we have made over the past 14 months against each of the three main pillars of the Management Response Plan:
First, we have made concrete progress in shifting to a victim and survivor-centred approach, by changing our policies, procedures and practices.
In September last year, I established a Survivor Assistance Fund of 2 million US dollars, which has been used to provide holistic support to all 83 survivors identified by the Independent Commission's report in September 2021, as well as others who have sought assistance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This includes 23 survivors of alleged sexual misconduct by WHO personnel, and the other 60 are survivors of alleged sexual misconduct by employees of other agencies.
The Fund has also been accessed by survivors in several other countries.
We are the only UN agency to have set up such a mechanism, so victims and survivors receive the holistic support they need quickly. I am also establishing a Survivor Support Function to enhance access to services for anyone who alleges sexual misconduct.
For our own personnel, we are now providing free, external, independent counselling services in more than 70 languages in 140 locations around the world.
We want to do our best to raise awareness in the communities we serve, about the standards of conduct to expect from us, and how to make a complaint safely and access services.
In DRC, we have worked with local organizations to reach more than 30,000 at-risk communities.
We are also offering free legal aid so survivors can pursue legal action.
We are taking action to address the cultural issues in our societies and institutions that affect how we treat victims and survivors, such as bystander culture and victim blaming.
In the mezzanine you might have seen the exhibition called, "What were you wearing?"
For many victims and survivors of sexual violence, this question puts the blame for the attack on them instead of the perpetrator.
The events the exhibits represent are truly horrifying.
What's worse is that often, the victims and survivors were blamed for what happened to them.
We must do everything in our power to prevent sexual misconduct, and when it happens, to take swift action that protects the rights and dignity of survivors and victims.
The culture of victim-blaming is something we must address with urgency.
I thank the NGO RISE for organizing this exhibit with our WHO team, and I invite all of you to take a few moments to visit the exhibit and to read at least three testimonies.
Exhibits like these remind us that it is not just policies or systems change we need, but that we need to address sexual misconduct with empathy and heart.
===
The second pillar of the Management Response Plan is strengthening the capacity and accountability of our workforce to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct.
More than 90% of staff globally have completed two mandatory UN courses, and 90% of managers have completed a special module on their responsibilities.
We have also launched a learning programme for almost 350 sexual misconduct focal points.
Our "No Excuse" webinars and other outreach activities have engaged around 30,000 participants.
And WHO has also helped to develop a UN-wide toolkit for implementing partners, which we will roll out this year.
In the field, our sexual misconduct focal points run trainings, briefings and awareness raising campaigns for our personnel, deployees, implementing partners and communities.
Our global team also runs regular induction briefings and periodic workshops for our Heads of WHO Country Office who are at the frontline of this work.
===
The third pillar of the Management Response Plan, and our biggest effort in 2022, was on reforming the policies, systems, structures and culture of the Organization to make "zero tolerance" a reality, not just a slogan.
A major part of this work has been strengthening our capacity at every level of the organization to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct.
In addition to our global team, we have now selected a pool of candidates to fill the P5 regional coordinator positions, and all regional offices now have dedicated teams to work on sexual misconduct.
We have also selected candidates for the 10 priority countries that we identified last year.
We have appointed focal points for sexual misconduct in all country offices, and all 340 of them are being trained.
Our Department for the Prevention of and Response to Sexual Misconduct is now fully staffed and coordinating our Organization-wide efforts.
We have restructured our IOS Department and are scaling up our capacity to manage all investigations of misconduct.
As you know, the risk of sexual misconduct is higher in emergencies.
Accordingly, we have updated the Emergency Response Framework, with benchmarks and targets for how sexual misconduct prevention and response must be integrated in the incident management system.
We are using this framework to address sexual misconduct in several grade 3 and grade 2 emergencies.
Much of our work is related to effective human resource processes.
Accordingly, we have developed an end-to-end human resource process spanning recruitment, screening and reference checks, onboarding, induction, training, performance management and disciplinary action.
We are regularly using the UN ClearCheck database and conducting pre-promotion screening.
We have been systematic about creating mechanisms for transparency, including our website and dashboard, which are updated regularly.
The dashboard shows the number of allegations of sexual misconduct, and starting from this year we will also add information on disciplinary measures taken.
In 2022 we received 107 complaints of sexual exploitation, abuse or harassment.
75 investigations were completed and the remaining complaints are still being investigated.
Where cases are substantiated, we are taking action.
Last year, three staff were dismissed for sexual harassment;
And one consultant's contract was terminated for sexual exploitation and abuse.
I believe that this combination of awareness, training and structural change, combined with taking action, is what will truly deliver behavioural change.
You may be aware of media reports referring to allegations of sexual misconduct by a WHO staff member during the World Health Summit in Berlin, last October.
Our investigation team has now completed its report, and the case has advanced to the Global Advisory Committee.
Once that committee's review is completed, and if the allegations are substantiated, disciplinary action will be taken.
We regret that the media identified the alleged perpetrator.
As you're aware, the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services - UN OIOS - has been investigating allegations of sexual misconduct during the 10th Ebola outbreak in DRC, as well as any managerial mishandling of those allegations.
The UN OIOS investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct are continuing, but we have now received its report on managerial mishandling.
The report finds that the allegations of managerial misconduct against the three staff members identified by the Independent Commission were unsubstantiated.
Those staff who were on administrative leave are returning to active service.
There are significant inconsistencies between the UN OIOS report and the report of the Independent Commission.
We have shared the UN OIOS report with WHO's Independent External Oversight Advisory Committee, which oversees WHO's work in preventing and responding to sexual misconduct, and we will seek their advice on the inconsistencies between the two reports.
In addition to the findings related to these individuals, the investigation identified institutional shortcomings in the measures taken by WHO to address sexual exploitation and abuse.
These findings reinforce the recommendations already captured in the WHO Management Response Plan.
They also echo institutional gaps highlighted by the Independent Commission's report and a more recent independent audit of our accountability functions by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
It is important to note that the UN OIOS report is focused on allegations of individual managerial misconduct and is not intended to be a comprehensive review of WHO's response to sexual misconduct.
There are many aspects of the progress WHO has made that are not captured in the UN OIOS report, nor does it recognize the full extent of our ongoing work.
In his report to PBAC last week the Chair of the IEOAC commended the Secretariat for its work on sexual misconduct, and was impressed with the progress we have made.
The 2022 UN-wide survey on sexual misconduct also found that WHO has made good progress.
Even so, we cannot rest, become complacent, or slow down. We have more to do.
Beginning in 2021, we began work on developing a new policy on preventing and addressing sexual misconduct, which will be launched this month.
The new policy incorporates all the best practices we have tested in the past 18 months, and will be supported by a new process for managing sexual misconduct incidents, a new policy on preventing and addressing retaliation, and a revised Code of Ethics and Conduct.
The draft policy has been sent to all Member States for your information, before it comes into force next month.
===
One of the central and most impactful parts of our work in 2022 has been the reform of the Department of Internal Oversight Services - IOS - and the establishment of dedicated capacity for investigation of sexual misconduct.
The changes we have made have increased confidence and trust in our systems, as evidenced by a tripling in the number of people coming forward with complaints, from 166 in 2021 to 491 in 2022.
As promised, we cleared the backlog of sexual misconduct allegations by May of last year, and the investigation team is now working on cases real-time.
Because justice delayed is justice denied, we have set and have met a target of 120 days in which to complete investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct.
As a result, last year we closed 142 misconduct cases, compared with less than 100 cases a year in the four preceding years.
In parallel, a new structure for IOS was developed building on the audit carried out by PwC, and overseen by the IEOAC.
This new structure was informed by an analysis of best practices from the UN and other international organizations, and input from Member States.
We are now on track to have a fully-resourced investigations function in place by this year's World Health Assembly.
This new structure will have an investigation unit comprised of three separate teams:
One for investigation of proscribed practices, including fraud and economic offences;
One for investigation of workplace abuses, including sexual misconduct and other forms of abuse;
And one for operational support, including intake, policy development, quality assurance and forensic data analysis.
We have recently appointed a new Head of Investigations, Eva Bolkart, and the recruitment of the three unit heads is well underway.
We are also in the process of hiring a new director of IOS, with a non-renewable term limit of seven years.
As you know, a year ago, we asked the Executive Board to suspend Financial Rule 12 in part, which enabled us to fast track investigations of sexual misconduct within IOS.
As a result, Lisa Mc Clennon has led the team investigating allegations of sexual misconduct and other abusive conduct, while investigations of fraud and economic cases continue to be managed by the Director of IOS, David Webb, who is retiring this year.
Both Lisa and David have the same direct reporting line to me and have the same access to the Executive Board.
The World Health Assembly then decided to extend the temporary suspension of the rule, in part to enable the completion of ongoing work.
With the increase in the total number of allegations received, and the backlog in allegations of abusive workplace conduct, fraud and corruption, we are concerned that bringing the two pillars back together now would cause us to lose momentum.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The suspension has so far delivered results. The investigation team has completed the backlog of allegations of sexual misconduct and is working through the backlog of other abusive conduct.
The new structure is still being put into place. There are still vacancies to be filled. We have posted the vacancy notice for the director position, and will prioritize the selection and onboarding of this position, as well as the three unit heads.
This is the final extension required. There is no cost implication for the decision to extend the suspension.
A concentrated effort is required to maintain the gains we have made in preventing and addressing sexual misconduct.
Separately, we need a scaled-up and focused effort to address the backlog of allegations of abusive workplace conduct, fraud and corruption.
We are therefore requesting an extension of the temporary suspension of Financial Rule 12, in part, until the Executive Board meeting in May.
In order to ensure continuity and avoid the investigations in this area being negatively impacted, as a transitional measure, Lisa Mc Clennon will remain responsible for all investigations of allegations of sexual misconduct and other abusive conduct.
Our new Head of Investigations, Eva Bolkart, will report to her in this area.
===
I thank the PBAC for its recommendations.
I appreciate the focus it has put on engagement with governments in countries where WHO has a presence, and the need to strengthen victim and survivor services in countries.
The IEOAC appreciated the progress made this year and pointed out the strengthening of our human resources team so that we can increase efficiencies and meet new targets in the end-to-end sexual misconduct incident management system.
The IEOAC also supported and the PBAC endorsed my request for a final extension of financial rule 12, in part, until the Executive Board meeting in May, so that we can continue the significant gains we have made in investigating misconduct.
Useful recommendations were made to build on the reform of our IOS department and function.
As you can see, we have achieved a great deal, but there is a lot more to do.
We are at the beginning of a long journey which I am fully committed to complete.
I meet with my senior accountability team on a weekly basis. We brief all our Member States every quarter, and have many ad hoc meetings whenever there is a request to do so.
This issue is on my agenda, and on my mind, every day.
As we wind up the Management Response Plan, we are transitioning into our three-year strategy to institutionalize the gains we have made.
The three-year strategy is part of a longer vision we have and will set us on course, if we stay focused, to become best in class.
It will take time and we need to be relentless in our efforts to get there. We are committed to continuous improvement.
This issue speaks to who we are as an Organization and will determine the trust you and the public place in us to deliver public health at such a crucial time.
Thank you all once again for your continuing engagement and support for our work in making zero tolerance a reality, not a slogan.
I look forward to your questions and guidance.
