UN Official Dismissive of Sex Harassment Charges

UN Official Dismissive of Sex Harassment Charges
29 Oct 2004 20:47:06 GMT
Source: Reuters
BY Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - U.N. refugee chief Ruud Lubbers on Friday dismissed as unsubstantiated a U.N. watchdog agency report that concluded he sexually harassed one of his senior staff members.

The report by the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services, condensed to one paragraph and circulated on Thursday, supported allegations made against Lubbers and recommended "that appropriate actions be taken accordingly."

But U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has rejected the report and cleared Lubbers, whose agency deals with some 17 million refugees around the world.

"The facts could not be substantiated at all," Lubbers, the Geneva-based U.N. high commissioner for refugees, told a small group of reporters after a meeting in New York of the heads of U.N. agencies.

"I found it a very weak report," he said, adding that he first saw the report in June, asked for a legal opinion from a Dutch jurist, and gave Annan his response.

"The outcome of this analysis (was) was convincing for the secretary-general, "Lubbers said. "He concluded these facts could not be substantiated and so he closed the case.

The incident involved a 51-year old American woman, who alleged Lubbers groped her as she was leaving his office in Geneva after a meeting late in 2003.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard on Thursday said Annan had rejected the OIOS report after seeking his own legal advice.

"He did not say there was no evidence," Eckhard said. "He said he found the allegations unsustainable on a legal basis."

Diplomats, some of whom were dismayed by Annan's decision, said the secretary-general had shown the report to judicial experts who said the complaint would not hold up in a court. Other women who had alleged harassment backed away from a formal protest, the envoys said.

In July, Annan decided to keep Lubbers in his post but voiced concern in a letter about how he had handled the complaint amid an investigation.

Lubbers had written to the woman at her home asking her to drop the complaint and promising to protect her from reprisals if she did. And in a message to staff in late May, Lubbers also acknowledged making what he considered to be a "friendly gesture" that he said the woman had misunderstood.

Lubbers was Dutch prime minister for 12 years, from 1982 to 1994, and in 2000 became high commissioner of the U.N. agency that has an annual budget of close to $1 billion and 6,000 staff in 115 countries. His term expires on Dec. 31, 2005.