Ethics Newsline®

UNITED NATIONS
The head of refugee relief efforts for the United Nations quit his post last week following a renewed flare-up over charges that he sexually harassed and intimidated female staffers.

Just two days after insisting that he would keep his job, Ruud Lubbers reversed course and tendered his resignation, citing a lack of support from his boss, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Last May, Lubbers was accused of sexually harassing a staffer. An internal investigation upheld the woman’s allegations, charging Lubbers with engaging in a “pattern of sexual harassment.”

In their report, U.N. investigators also indicted Lubbers for using “intense, pervasive, and intimidating attempts to influence the outcome of this investigation,” reported the Washington Post.

Despite the findings, Kofi Annan controversially declined to pursue the case last July, saying the allegations were “unsustainable on a legal basis.”

Two weeks ago, Britain’s Independent published leaked portions of the internal U.N. report, reigniting the scandal and prompting a sit-down meeting in which Annan reportedly pushed Lubbers to step down.

“For more than four years I gave all my energy” to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Lubbers declared in his resignation letter. “Now in the middle of a series of problems and with ongoing media pressure you apparently view this differently.”

“Despite all my loyalty, insult has now been added to injury and therefore I resign as high commissioner,” he wrote.

Annan’s office last week said Lubbers, a former premier of the Netherlands, had been a “devoted” public servant and that the acceptance of his resignation “should not be interpreted as a finding of guilt.”

Nevertheless, “the Secretary-General is convinced that it is in the best interest of UNHCR, its staff, and the refugees it serves that the page be turned and a new chapter be started,” it concluded.