The Lancet: Offline: How to restore the credibility of UNAIDS
Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet

“…Astonishing does not even begin to describe the findings and recommendations of an Independent Expert Panel, set up to investigate harassment, including sexual harassment, bullying, and abuse of power at UNAIDS. … The Panel identified four areas for reform: governance, leadership, management, and policy and process. Its recommendations are far reaching. An external, independent, investigation, disciplinary, and redress mechanism must be implemented to deal with complaints. … Accountability at all levels of the organization must be strengthened. Human resources procedures should be upgraded. An external and independent review of progress should be completed in 12 months. And there is one further wretched element to the Panel’s findings and proposals. … It is the U.N. Secretary-General who has the power to hire and fire the executive director. Both the [Programme Coordinating Board (PCB)] and António Guterres now have a duty to deliver on the recommendations of the Expert Panel. The reputation of UNAIDS and the U.N. system depends on it” (12/10).