WHO Suspends Top Official Over Sexual Assault Allegations: Report

The World Health Organization (WHO) has suspended a senior manager at its Geneva headquarters after a British doctor publicly alleged she was sexually assaulted at a health conference last month, two...

Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the World Health Organization has suspended a senior director at its Geneva headquarters after a British doctor publicly claimed she was sexually assaulted at a health conference last month.

Rosie James, 26 years old-

An elderly NHS doctor tweeted last month that the attack took place at the World Health Summit in Berlin.

The event, which took place from October 16-18, was jointly organized by the World Health Organization. James said at the time that she planned to report the incident.

"The alleged perpetrator is on leave and the investigation is ongoing," a WHO spokesperson said in an email response to Reuters about James' comments.

In a telephone call to Reuters, the person allegedly involved in the sexual assault declined to comment.

WHS GmbH Foundation,

The other organizer of the Berlin event said in a statement to Reuters that the allegations should be investigated "urgently and thoroughly".

"The World Health Organization is leading the investigation into the case," Dr. Jörg Heldmann, managing director of WHS, said in the statement.

James told Reuters the WHO official made repeated sexual moves that included groping her and asking for her hotel room number at an evening networking event.

"Someone pretended to be my friend to defuse the situation and even after that he continued to touch me inappropriately," she told Reuters.

"I was really tired of this happening to women all the time and I wanted to raise it."

Her account was corroborated by a witness to the incident who requested anonymity to protect their identity.

Reuters does not name the official due to reporting restrictions under Swiss privacy laws,

which prohibits the identification of persons accused of certain offenses.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency had "zero tolerance" of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment in its ranks.

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