WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.
The corrected release reads:
AHF CLARIFICATION RE: BIASED UNAIDS’ SEXUAL HARASSMENT INVESTIGATION, ‘NO IMMUNITY WITH IMPUNITY’
Largest global AIDS organization clarifies which international agencies and/or individuals connected to a flawed sexual harassment investigation involving the UN, UNAIDS and its Executive Director where, or to whom immunity may apply:
- The UN: The reopening of the initial harassment investigation by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Committee (OIOS) — which is NOT restricted by immunity because it is part of the UN, versus …
- UNAIDS: An independent panel being created by the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) of UNAIDS, which will review the last seven years at UNAIDS. That panel WILL be limited in what it can look at because of UN immunity. Also, this panel will NOT investigate past actions by individuals, only policies and procedures.
WASHINGTON (May 2, 2018) Following its release of a strongly worded press statement earlier today renewing its call for UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé to step down or be fired for his gross mishandling of a growing sexual harassment scandal and his subsequent efforts to cover up and interfere with an investigation of sexual assault on a UNAIDS employee by his deputy director, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, is issuing the following clarifications on its previous statement:
-
First, regarding which international agencies and/or individuals
connected to a flawed sexual harassment investigation involving the
UN, UNAIDS and its Executive Director where, or to whom immunity may
or may not apply:
- The UN: The reopening of the initial harassment investigation by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Committee (OIOS) — which is NOT restricted by immunity because it is part of the UN, versus …
- UNAIDS: An independent panel being created by the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) of UNAIDS, which will review the last seven years at UNAIDS. That panel WILL be limited in what it can look at because of UN immunity. Also, this panel will NOT investigate past actions by individuals, only policies and procedures.
Late last week, CNN & others reported that the United Nations reopened an investigation into the sexual harassment case, reporting that, “The new investigation will be conducted by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), and ‘no UNAIDS officials will be involved in this case going forward,’ Sophie Barton-Knott, a UNAIDS spokesperson said in a statement Friday.”
Separately, the UK will lead up an ‘independent panel’ effort by Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) of UNAIDS as part of a five-point plan launched by the embattled Sidibé.
The Code Blue Campaign, a campaign spearheaded by Paula Donovan and Stephen Lewis, Co-Directors of AIDS-Free World, that seeks to end impunity for sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel is:
- Calling for a Temporary Independent Oversight Panel reporting directly to Member States, to monitor INVESTIGATIONS, including the recently reopened investigation by the UN’s OIOS, and
- Believes that the Independent Panel created by the PCB is an empty exercise that will just look back at policies and procedures and will not look into actions by individuals or hold anyone accountable, have any real authority, and will be limited by immunity granted it under auspices of the UN.
“There should be no immunity with impunity for those involved in the reported sexual assaults of UNAIDS staff and the subsequent—and growing—efforts by the UN and Mr. Sidibé himself to cover up the incidents in this case through intimidation of staff, destruction of evidence of wrongdoing or dismissal or reassignment of UNAIDS staff that they may view as disloyal, as we have heard reports of,” said Michael Weinstein, President, AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “We are now pleading the case for Mr. Sidibé’s dismissal and comprehensive reforms at UNAIDS in an open letter to Madam Secretary Penny Mordaunt, UK Secretary of State for International Development and the new Minister for Women and Equalities, in hopes that she can help facilitate a truly impartial investigation and start to right the ship at UNAIDS.”
AHF advocates have heard that Ms. Mordaunt is being told that all is well with UNAIDS and this new UN investigation.
With that in mind, and in anticipation of a high-level meeting in London on Thursday this week where UN Secretary-General António Guterres is expected to speak and touch on the issue and where Mr. Sidibé is expected to be in attendance, AHF has sent an open letter to Ms. Mordaunt renewing the call for a real, external investigation of the case.
To read the full text AHF’s open letter to Madam Secretary Penny Mordaunt, UK Secretary of State for International Development and the new Minister for Women and Equalities, click here.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 892,000 individuals in 39 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare
