As Bangladesh presses for its former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to be extradited to face charges of human rights abuses, her daughter, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for South East Asia (SEARO), is also under scrutiny.
Saima Wazed was elected to the WHO position by regional leaders in November 2023 amid allegations that her mother had improperly influenced the election process.
Last August, Hasina fled the country after a revolt against her government following its harsh crackdown on student protests. She is currently in India as is her daughter, who is based at the WHO SEARO office in New Delhi.
This week the director of Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), General Akhtar Hossain, confirmed to The Business Standard that his commission’s probe into Hasina would include Wazed’s election.
Hossain told the newspaper that corruption was suspected to be involved in Wazard’s appointment.
SEARO has 11 member countries including India and Pakistan, yet only tiny Nepal put up a candidate to contest for the regional director position.
In an article published by Health Policy Watch before Wazed’s election by member states, public health specialist Mukesh Kapila noted that her own capability statement “does not reveal the ‘strong technical and public health background and extensive experience in global health’, required by the official criteria for the role”.
Neither did she have “the mandatory substantive track record in public health leadership and significant competencies in organisational management”, required by WHO.
“But being introduced by her mother at recent high-level summits such as BRICS, ASEAN, G20 and the UN General Assembly to craft deals in exchange for votes may be seen as crossing the fine line between a government’s legitimate lobbying for its candidate and craven nepotism,” Kapila wrote.
Wazed is a psychologist with a special interest in autism.
Code of conduct
The 2024 Executive Board recommended that the code of conduct of all regional directors should be expanded to include provisions on “sexual misconduct and other abusive conduct and a disclosure of interests by candidates”, more stringent reference checks and due diligence review of qualifications and employment history.
It also recommended that nominating member states should “disclose grants or aid funding for candidates” in the two years before their appointment.
In response to the news reports that Wazed’s appointment was being investigated, the WHO said: “If there are allegations of wrongdoing by or within a member state in connection with a WHO election campaign, it is appropriate for these to be investigated by the competent national authorities. We would not comment on such investigations or any consequential legal processes while they are ongoing.”
According to Article 52 of the WHO Constitution, regional directors are appointed by the WHO’s Executive Board, “in agreement with the regional committee”.
A note from the WHO’s legal counsel flags that, despite a decision by the 2012 World Health Assembly, to implement “a process for the assessment of all candidates’ qualifications”, only the European Region has done so.
Image Credits: X, X/Saima Wazed.
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