In a statement, WWF-Malaysia said the organisation would be taking immediate action on the matter.
“We treat any allegation of misconduct by any staff extremely seriously and this includes the allegations brought forward by former staff members via Facebook.
“We have immediately launched a review of these troubling allegations and although the relevant staff left the organisation some time ago, we will investigate this matter and continue to reach out to those who feel victimised,” WWF-Malaysia executive director Dionysius Sharma said.
WWF-Malaysia was responding to a query from FMT on the claims first made on Facebook by a former employee who said the organisation had covered up alleged sexual harassment towards a female junior personnel and swept complaints against the perpetrator under the rug.
This led to one of the victims, Dana (not her real name), relating what had happened to her when she joined the NGO 13 years ago.
Dana alleged that her supervisor had made remarks about her body and suggested that they share a room when attending a workshop overseas. When she refused, she said, threats were made over her work performance.
Dana said she knew of others who had also been victimised.
“Before and after me. Same MO (modus operandi), same body remarks, same room-sharing suggestions,” Dana said, adding that reports lodged against the supervisor were never followed through.
Sharma however, said it would do the right thing to help the staff concerned.
“We are committed to listen to them and reassure them that we will do our best to address the grave concerns they have raised. We are committed to ensuring that we adopt a duty of care for the people who place their trust in us, and this includes former employees.
“WWF-Malaysia has a zero tolerance approach to harassment as outlined in WWF’s global code of conduct, and we are determined to continually strengthen our policies to safeguard the rights of those who work with us.”
The organisation also said it has whistleblowing policies in place for individuals to raise grievances.
Staff sexually harassed, but NGO did nothing, claims ex-employee