BBC News Brasil Informers say sexual harassment reports at UN are ignored 06/21/2022 16:32

Some employees who try to report alleged misconduct and misconduct say they have been punished or even fired.

The organization’s former spokesperson on sexual harassment said the treatment of whistleblowers at the United Nations (UN) needed to be analyzed by an external panel.

Purna Sen’s advice came after the publication of a BBC investigation that revealed the dismissal of several UN officials attempting to uncover allegations of alleged misconduct.

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Sen said the UN should “step forward” and adopt recommendations made by a panel.

The UN says it is committed to protecting “legitimate informants” and holding officials accountable.

documentary Whistlebowers: Inside the UNoffers accounts of employees from the BBC trying to file complaints, including cases of fraud and sexual abuse. All said after speaking out that they were punished – and some were fired.

Sen, who was elected spokesperson for harassment, harassment and discrimination in 2018, said in the documentary that there are women “approached, harassed and raped” at the UN.

The more men are allowed to get away with it, “the more they will continue to do this,” he said.

He told the BBC’s Newsnight program that he was not surprised by the “extremely offensive” statements.

“This shows that sometimes protecting top personnel in every organization is more important than harming the underpowered.”

“This means that there is real tension in an organization that not only supports and defends human rights, but is the cradle of many of these human rights – but has yet to learn to recognize them when it comes to the people who work for this organization.”

Sen also noted that he wanted UN Secretary-General António Guterres to appoint a different external panel to take into account staff experiences and recommend a focused set of actions.

Guterres’ office said in a statement that it is open to any external scrutiny of efforts to “fight all forms of abuse”.

diplomatic immunity

The United Nations enjoys a protected legal status and senior officials have diplomatic immunity from all national laws.

This is given to the organization to protect it from interference while doing its job. But the UN says it’s not given for the personal benefit of employees – so it doesn’t protect those who commit crimes like sexual abuse.

All employee complaints should be handled internally. The Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) handles the most serious complaints, including criminal charges, but has no legal authority.

The BBC got a (secretly made) record showing that OIOS isn’t always effective. In the audio recording, Ben Swanson, director of the investigation division, appears to be speaking at a staff meeting. He said a senior UN official came to him in tears and described how an assistant secretary-general had his hand under his pants.

The UN has several deputy secretary generals.

In the recording, Swanson claimed she told the secretary-general and other senior officials about the alleged sexual abuse – but it was soon cut off. “So I tried to tell this story and it was deliberately ignored,” he can be heard saying.

He added that the woman was discouraged from reporting the alleged abuse and said it would not be good to speak up because the man in question was a “favorite son”.

Sharing the audio recording, whistleblower Peter Gallo told the documentary: “I spent four years as an inspector at the UN Headquarters in New York. And as a result of this experience, I believe the organization is full of corruption from top to bottom.”

After hearing his report, Sen said, “Why did the secretary general say, ‘This is outrageous, what are we going to do about it? My zero tolerance policy doesn’t mean we have to act.’ He said, ‘No, we’re not. He’s going there’.”

The office of the UN Secretary-General said it was determined to “punish every employee, junior or senior, who sexually harasses him”.

‘Negligible’

Martina Bostrom, a former senior adviser to UNAIDS (United Nations HIV/AIDS Programme), told the BBC she was also a victim of workplace sexual harassment.

“Harassment, abuse and sexual harassment at the UN happens at headquarters, it happens from Monday to Friday. It happens during normal working hours, it happens everywhere,” he said.

He said he was targeted by UNAIDS deputy director-general at the time, Luiz Loures, the deputy secretary-general, whom he described as “despicable” and known for his inappropriate behavior.

During a business event in Bangkok, Thailand in 2015, she said that as they were leaving the meeting, he kissed her and forcibly groped her in the elevator before trying to drag her to her room.

“Stop, I begged him to let me go. I had to shield myself from the elevator door to stay inside because I was afraid, I was seeing that long hallway,” she said.

“My brain was obviously working really fast and was afraid of what might happen.”

Martina filed a formal complaint and met with UN investigators. The UN and UNAIDS “retaliated in a very cruel and painful way,” she said.

“It’s so painful because it’s almost like being raped again. It’s like you don’t have a chance to breathe.”

Luiz Loures retired from the UN in 2018 and received a commendation for “22 years of selfless service”. He told the BBC: “I have never molested or attacked anyone. The accusations made are unfounded.”

The UN, in turn, stated that “the allegations of harassment against Loures are being investigated” but are currently “not in a position to comment on the veracity of these allegations”.

In August 2021, Martina received a letter from the UN informing her that she “had been sexually harassed for an extended period of time”, but concluded that “something traumatic had happened” regarding her complaint that she had been sexually assaulted in 2015. You are “consistent with your description of the situation”, but the results “did not meet the standards of evidence”.

zero tolerance

For you, Martina’s condition is symptomatic of a broader problem at the UN.

He told the documentary that a “surprising” third of UN staff said they had been sexually harassed while working, but the vast majority of cases went unreported.

“What we know about the cases is just the tip of the iceberg and this is a very important point, people think that reporting will have negative consequences and there will be retaliation.”

“If I had been attacked or sexually harassed, I probably wouldn’t have reported it. I wouldn’t have gone through this process.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ office said in a statement that “great progress has been made in tackling the scourge of sexual harassment, to which no organization is immune”.

And, according to the text, measures include hiring female investigators to investigate allegations, a hotline for staff to report abuses, and better training of senior management.

But in an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Sen said the reports in the documentary showed the UN was not meeting its zero tolerance commitments and had “a long way to go”.

“Be it corruption, fraud, sexual harassment, [os funcionários da ONU] they feel that they will not be able to make any progress even in making a complaint, that the complaints were initially dismissed too early. “They are not given alternative procedures and access to resources,” he said.

“The UN certainly addressed some of the major flaws it had before, but it didn’t go far enough. I’ve seen very worrying things – these can and should be addressed urgently, not just verbally but de facto.”

– This text was originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-61877693.

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