WHO says it fired COVID probe scientist Peter Ben Embarek for sexual misconduct last year

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it had suspended a senior scientist, known for his role as head of an international mission to China in 2021 to investigate the origins of COVID-19, for sexual misconduct.

The UN agency said Peter Ben Embarek, a Danish scientist who previously led the One Health initiative on diseases that jump from animals to humans, was removed from his post last year. In response to Reuters, Ben Embarek said he denied the harassment allegations and challenged the sanctions.

“Peter Ben Embarek was fired last year because of findings of sexual misconduct against him that were substantiated by an investigation, and an appropriate disciplinary process,” WHO spokeswoman Marcia Poole said.

Poole said the cases that led to the dismissal occurred in 2015 and 2017. The agency was first made aware of it in 2018. The WHO did not provide further details on the allegations of wrongdoing.

Poole told the Associated Press in an email that other allegations could not be fully investigated because “the victim did not want to participate in the investigative process.”

It was not immediately clear why the WHO only confirmed the 2022 shooting now, or whether the alleged incident was reported internally before or after the scientist was assigned to a fact-finding mission in China.

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Ben Embarek said that one incident in 2017 was “resolved immediately in an amicable manner.” He said he could not comment further because he and the WHO were bound by a confidentiality agreement pending a resolution.

“I am not aware of any other complaints and no other complaints have been mentioned,” Ben Embarek said in a digital message. “I have to fight the harassment qualification and I hope to defend my rights.”

Ben Embarek is the most senior WHO official known to have been fired since the UN agency launched a series of reforms to improve its response to sexual assault. He is often quoted in the media about the origins of the pandemic. His dismissal can be filed through the UN’s internal justice system.

He is the deputy head of the WHO on a trip to China aimed at investigating the origin of COVID-19. The team made global headlines with their conclusion that bats were the most likely initial host, which eventually led to the pandemic in humans. He also determined that the leak of the virus from a laboratory in China was “unlikely”, despite calls from various scientists to look into the possibility.

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WHO officials, including Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have since said that its origins remain unclear and that the laboratory leak theory cannot be ruled out.

Ben Embarek later said that there was political pressure on the team, including from outside China, but that no reports had changed. He did not specify the source of the pressure.

The WHO has overhauled its handling of sexual harassment and misconduct cases after a 2021 investigation found that dozens of aid workers, including some from the WHO, had been involved in sexual harassment and exploitation during the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The agency says people are more willing to speak up about sexual misconduct and take action where the allegations are substantiated. It has started reporting monthly on disciplinary actions taken.