Draft:Maurizio Barbeschi

Maurizio Barbeschi is an Italian scientist, global health security, biosecurity and mass gathering expert, and a former Senior Advisor of Health and Security at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Early life and education
Maurizio Barbeschi grew up in Rome.

After obtaining a PhD in theoretical chemistry at the University of Rome, in 1992 Maurizio Barbeschi obtained an Executive MBA on International Strategic Management, granted by a joint program between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Polytechnic University of Milan.

Early career
In 1994, Barbeschi covered the role of Delegate in the Chemical Weapons Convention negotiations to the Conference of Disarmament, and was also a Member of the Provisional Technical Secretariat of the CWC. Between 1994 and 2001, Maurizio Barbeschi was a Senior Policy Officer in the Verification Division of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. From 2001 to 2003, he was the Director of the Chemical and Biological Warfare Program of the Landau Network-Centro Volta.

In November 2002, following the mandate of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, Barbeschi was one of the UN inspectors sent to Iraq by UNMOVIC to investigate areas thought to have previously been weapons production facilities.

Career at WHO
Maurizio Barbeschi joined the World Health Organization at its Geneva headquarters in 2003, and went on to represent the WHO at multiple Biological Weapons Convention meetings. Eventually, he lead the organization’s Mass Gatherings and Deliberate Events group. The team provided strategic guidance to governmental agencies and responsible organizations on dealing with bio-terrorist threats as well as proper health and safety protocols for high-visibility and high-consequence events, such as the Olympic Games in Athens, Beijing, Vancouver and London, as well as the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

In 2013, Barbeschi was the head of the WHO component   for the UN team lead by Åke Sellström to investigate the possible use of chemical warfare weapons during the Syrian civil war.

In 2020, Maurizio Barbeschi was appointed senior adviser to the WHO’s Executive Director for Global Health Emergencies. Barbeschi formed the WHO Novel Coronavirus-19 Mass Gatherings Expert Group, a gathering of specialists that set the guidelines which the UN used in its reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 2020, Barbeschi stated that the first reaction of event organizers “wasn’t smart” or “large enough to stop the exponential move of the virus.” In July 2020, when Portugal was chosen to host the final of the UEFA Champions League, Barbeschi commented that Portugal “was not chosen by chance” but because “it has a strong health system” and “was one of the countries that best dealt” with the pandemic.

Publications
In 1994, Barbeschi contributed to the book "Competence-based Competition", edited by Gary Hamel and Aimé Heene.

During his time at the WHO, in addition to co-authoring various articles published on The Lancet   and Science Direct,  Barbeschi has also been credited for writing chapters in the 17th and 18th editions of the book “Control of Communicable Diseases Manual” by David L. Heymann, and is cited as a source in the 19th edition. In 2016, he also authored two chapters of the online edition.

In 2016, Maurizio Barbeschi co-authored the book “Fare i conti con l’ignoto” (“Reckoning with the Unknown”) with journalist and UN envoy Paolo Mastrolilli, published by Mondadori. The book recounts, among other things, Barbeschi’s experience as a weapons inspector in Syria.

Controversies
In 2023, Maurizio Barbeschi was dismissed by WHO “following findings of sexual misconduct”.

A lawyer representing Barbeschi has challenged the dismissal, stating that the results of the investigation were "politically-influenced" and the credibility of the witnesses "had been questioned at the highest levels". The lawyer further qualified the proceedings as "unlawfully based on vague claims and hearsay, without factual statements supported by dates or alleged words or behaviours" and stressed that Barbeschi was innocent and would challenge the sanction through judicial channels. The lawyer further stated Barbeschi’s dismissal was “the result of a carefully prepared campaign launched against him, with the intention of destroying his reputation and getting him fired”.