International
WHO action plan on preventing sexual abuse after DRC scandal
afp
The World Health Organization told AFP on Friday it was drawing up a plan to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation following a damning scandal implicating its workers in DR Congo.
The WHO has apologised to victims after a report on allegations of rape and sexual abuse by workers sent to fight Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2018 and 2020.
Major WHO donor countries have publicly put the UN health agency under pressure on the issue.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed details of the plan on Thursday.
“The director-general presented the draft response plan to member states for their comment and feedback,” the WHO said in a statement to AFP.
“It will be a public document and will be published in the coming days.”
On September 28, an independent commission of inquiry released a devastating report which found that 21 WHO employees — among 83 alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse — had committed such abuses against dozens of people in the DR Congo during the Ebola epidemic.
The report found “clear structural failures” and “individual negligence” among the UN agency’s staff after dozens of women told investigators they were offered work in exchange for sex, or were victims of rape.
The allegations first came light after a year-long probe by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and The New Humanitarian.
“The plan outlines immediate, medium- and longer-term actions to address the failures identified in the independent commission report,” the WHO statement said.
It focuses on putting victims and survivors at the heart of prevention and response actions, and “reforming WHO’s culture, structures, systems and capacity to create a culture in which there is no opportunity for sexual exploitation and abuse to happen, no impunity if it does, and no tolerance for inaction”, the statement said.
Tedros, who received the backing of most EU member states for a second term in office starting in August 2022, said he was “sorry” for what had happened, after the report was published.
The WHO is committed to implementing the report’s recommendations and to getting rid of the employees behind the abuse — as well as those who should have intervened.
Four employees have already had their contracts terminated, while two senior staff have been placed on administrative leave.
International
Erin brings strong winds and storm surge despite weakening offshore
Hurricane Erin weakened to a Category 2 storm on Tuesday but continues to pose a threat to parts of the U.S. East Coast with potentially dangerous flooding, according to meteorologists.
Although the hurricane’s eye is expected to remain offshore, experts are concerned about Erin’s size, as strong winds extend hundreds of kilometers beyond the storm’s center.
In its 18:00 GMT bulletin, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) lifted tropical storm warnings for the Bahamasand Turks and Caicos Islands, but kept them in effect for parts of North Carolina.
Erin was located several hundred kilometers southeast of North Carolina and was moving northwestward.
“This means there is a risk of potentially life-threatening flooding of 60 to 120 centimeters above ground level,” said NHC Director Michael Brennan.
He also warned of the possibility of destructive waves, combined with storm surge, that could cause severe damage to beaches and coastal areas, making roads impassable.
International
Three U.S. Warships deploy near Venezuela to combat drug trafficking
Three U.S. naval vessels are moving toward the coasts of Venezuela, according to international media reports on Tuesday, after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump is ready to combat and curb international drug trafficking.
Reports indicate that the ships will reach Venezuelan waters within the next 36 hours as part of a recent U.S. deployment aimed at countering international narcotics operations.
The announcement coincides with Leavitt’s statement that Trump is prepared to “use the full extent of his power” to halt drug flows into the United States. The naval deployment involves approximately 4,000 military personnel.
“The President has been clear and consistent. He is ready to use every element of U.S. power to prevent drugs from flooding our country and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela—it is a narco-terror cartel,” the spokesperson said during a press conference.
International
Cuban authorities free salvadoran convicted in 1997 hotel bombing
Salvadoran national Otto René Rodríguez Llerena was released after serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in a terrorist attack at a hotel in Cuba in 1997, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
During his trial, Rodríguez Llerena admitted to placing an explosive device at the Meliá Cohiba Hotel under the orders of anti-Castro exile leaders. He was arrested the following year when he returned to Havana with another load of explosives that failed to detonate.
“The Cuban government reiterates its commitment to combating terrorism, respecting human rights, and the need for the international community to hold accountable those who promote such acts,” the statement read.
He was released on August 15 and is the second Salvadoran to complete his sentence. In December of last year, another Salvadoran, Ernesto Cruz León, was released after planting bombs at tourist centers, one of which killed an Italian tourist identified as Fabio Di Celmo.
A third Salvadoran, Francisco Chávez Abarca, also received a 30-year sentence from Cuban courts in 2010 after being extradited from Venezuela through Interpol for actions against Cuba.
Rodríguez Llerena had requested conditional release in 2016, arguing that his actions had not caused any direct fatalities, but no further information was released about his situation until now.
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