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WHO staff accuse top boss of racism and abuse at Manila HQ

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South China Morning Post

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/tvpatrol/01/28/takeshi-kasai.jpg" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/tvpatrol/01/28/takeshi-kasai.jpg"/></figure></div>Staffers have accused the top director of the World Health Organization in the Western Pacific of racist, unethical and abusive behavior that has undermined the UN health agency&#x27;s efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic.The allegations were laid out in an internal complaint filed in October and in an email last week sent by unidentified staff to WHO&#x27;s senior leadership and its executive board. Two of the authors said more than 30 current and former WHO officials were involved in writing the email.The internal complaint and email describe a &quot;toxic atmosphere&quot; with &quot;a culture of systemic bullying and public ridiculing&quot; at WHO&#x27;s Western Pacific headquarters in Manila, led by Dr Takeshi Kasai, director of a vast region that includes China and Japan. There are also recorded snippets of meetings where Kasai is heard making derogatory comments about staff based on nationality. Eleven former or current WHO staffers who worked for Kasai said he frequently used racist language.The complaint and message also accused Kasai of improperly sharing potentially sensitive vaccine information with his home country, Japan. In an email to the AP, Kasai denied allegations of racism and unethical behaviour.&quot;I ask a lot of myself, and our staff,&quot; he said. &quot;This has particularly been the case during the Covid-19 response. But it should not result in people feeling disrespected.&quot;Kasai said he was committed to making changes that would ensure &quot;a positive work environment.&quot; However, an internal WHO message seen by the AP shows that in a meeting last week, Kasai ordered all his senior directors to &quot;reject&quot; the accusations in the email and to &quot;totally support&quot; him.The internal complaint filed to WHO alleges that Kasai once aggressively questioned a Filipino staffer during a coronavirus meeting, saying: &quot;How many people in the Pacific have you killed so far and how many more do you want to kill further?&quot; The complaint said he then asked &quot;if she was incapable of delivering good presentations because she was Filipina.&quot;Several WHO officials present when the statements were made confirmed that the regional director has made numerous racist comments in meetings.The email also said Kasai blamed the rise in Covid cases in some Pacific countries on their &quot;lack of capacity due to their inferior culture, race and socioeconomic level.&quot; Three WHO staffers said Kasai said in numerous WHO discussions that the coronavirus response was hampered by &quot;a lack of sufficiently educated people in the Pacific.&quot;Kasai rejected allegations that he ever used racist language.&quot;It is true that I have been hard on staff, but I reject the suggestion that I have targeted staff of any particular nationality,&quot; he said.The claims add to a litany of internal protests from WHO personnel about the agency&#x27;s management of the pandemic, including privately complaining about China&#x27;s delayed sharing of information while publicly praising the government.&quot;We request your urgent intervention to address our serious concerns ... which is negatively impacting WHO&#x27;s performance,&quot; staff wrote.Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Public Health Law and Human Rights at Georgetown University, said he was in contact with many people at the Western Pacific office, and knew they felt &quot;battered&quot; during the pandemic.Gostin said racism in a WHO office at the centre of the pandemic would be &quot;unconscionable,&quot; and that the allegations wounded WHO&#x27;s credibility.WHO staffers also alleged that Kasai abused his position to aid the Japanese government in Covid-19 vaccination planning by providing confidential data. Many countries expect WHO not to share details on sensitive issues like vaccination unless they explicitly consent.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/20/21/duterte-thanks-japan-us-for-covid-vaccine-donations">‘Friend closer than a brother’: Duterte thanks Japan, US for COVID-19 vaccine donations</a></li></ul>A WHO scientist who worked on Covid-19 immunization in Asia told the AP that Kasai shared data with Japan so the government could decide how to donate doses to its regional neighbors for a political advantage. The staffer, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, said Kasai also pressured WHO personnel to prioritize vaccine donations from Japan over the UN-backed COVAX effort.Kasai disputed that he had ever inappropriately shared information with Japan. &quot;At no time have I pressured staff to facilitate donations from Japan rather than COVAX,&quot; he said.WHO has dealt with internal complaints from staffers alleging systemic racism, sexism and other misconduct before. Last year, an investigation found that senior WHO management was informed of multiple sexual abuse reports involving its own staffers during the Ebola epidemic in Congo, but failed to act.The authors of the WHO email in Asia said most of them had &quot;exhaustively&quot; filed complaints through various WHO mechanisms, including its ombudsman, ethics hotline, and office of internal oversight, but have not been informed of any investigation.Under WHO&#x27;s structure, regional directors are largely answerable only to the member countries that elect them and to the executive board that confirms their selection. Kasai could run again next year when his current term expires.Kasai does not report to WHO&#x27;s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, but &quot;all staffers are subject to the authority of the director general,&quot; according to the agency&#x27;s rules.<div>ZERO TOLERANCE</div>On Thursday the World Health Organization vowed to take action, saying it &quot;aware of the allegations and is taking all appropriate steps to follow up on the matter.&quot; Kasai said in a statement that he was &quot;ready to cooperate fully with any process to investigate the concerns which have been raised.&quot;Simon Manley, Britain&#x27;s ambassador in Geneva said in a statement that there was &quot;no place for racism or discrimination in the WHO&quot;.&quot;We expect the WHO to investigate robustly all allegations of misconduct and to provide support to those affected,&quot; he said, pledging to hold the UN health agency to the highest ethical standards.France takes the accusations &quot;very seriously&quot;, its permanent mission in Geneva said.If the allegations were proven, it would be up to the WHO&#x27;s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to take steps and, if necessary, consult the executive board &quot;on a possible end of contract&quot;, the mission said.France will pay extremely close attention &quot;to the smooth running of the investigation and its results&quot;.In his speeches to the WHO executive board this week, Tedros said his commitment to preventing all forms of abuse was &quot;iron-clad&quot;.&quot;You are right to expect the highest standards of conduct, and you are right to expect an organization that has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment,&quot; he said Monday.The board is due to discuss management matters on Friday, including the prevention of harassment and abuse.<div>With reports by South China Morning Post and Agence France-Presse</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1660816" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Staffers have accused the top director of the World Health Organization in the Western Pacific of racist, unethical and abusive behavior.