Pressure on UN boss as sex scandal grows

Sidibe faces allegations of sheltering powerful men accused of wrongdoing

It started with sexual assault allegations against a male UNAIDS executive and a heavily-criticised internal investigation that exonerated the accused. Now the crisis involving accusations against former deputy executive director Luiz Loures has spread, raising pressure on the overall head of the organisation.

Michel Sidibe, a Malian national who took charge of UNAIDS in 2009, is under fire from current and former colleagues as well as civil society groups, who have raised questions about his leadership.

He faces allegations of sheltering powerful men accused of wrongdoing, including Loures, whom two women have publicly accused of sexual assault.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV and Aids organisation, has called for Sidibe’s resignation and said that without substantive reform, UNAIDS should be disbanded.

“He sits on his throne in Geneva ... and is not accountable to anyone,” AHF president Michael Weinstein told journalists. “He wants everything to be adulation.”

In an email, agency spokeswoman Sophie Barton-Knott noted that Sidibe had put in place a “five point plan to prevent and address all forms of harassment within UNAIDS”.

The plan is one of several initiatives launched by the UN, including a new hotline, to address sexual harassment amid the global #metoo movement.

Loures left the agency last month.

Bullied and intimidated

As well as the two women to accuse him publicly, others have spoken anonymously about him to multiple media outlets. One accuser is Malayah Harper, who worked at the agency for a decade and is now the general secretary of the World Young Women’s Christian Association.

She said the problems extended far beyond Loures.

“It comes down to leadership and what you allow to happen, which sets the culture of the organisation,” said Harper, who held country director posts in Africa as well as a senior headquarters role.

She became visibly distressed as she recounted an ordeal in an African country during which a male colleague bullied and intimidated her and other women, including publicly and by using sexually-demeaning language.

She said she informed senior management and the head of Sidibe’s executive office about the situation but received “no answer” or action. Then, Harper said, the individual threatened to kill her, which triggered a UNAIDS internal investigation and increased security at her residence.

The other woman to publicly accuse Loures of assault is Martina Brostrom, who remains a UNAIDS employee on medical leave.