UN Chief in Harassment Scandal
By Anthea Jonathan
May 18, 2005
News 24
Original Source: http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1528757,00.html
Geneva - The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, said on Tuesday that a staff member had filed a complaint about sexual harassment against him. 
Lubbers denied improper behaviour after the New York Times reported on Tuesday that a woman administrator had lodged the formal complaint, alleging an incident as she and six other male staff members were leaving a meeting. 
It has been brought to my attention by Dileep Nair, the head of the (UN) Office of Internal Oversight, that a complaint about sexual harassment has been filed against me by a UNHCR staff member Lubbers said in a statement. 
The complaint referred to a formal meeting in Lubbers' office on December 18, 2003, which was attended by five other staff members, he said. 
The complaint was filed on April 27 of this year, more than four months after the alleged harassment. In that meeting on December 18, there was no improper behaviour on my part, added the former Dutch prime minister. 
The woman, a long-standing UNHCR employee, told other staff members she was shocked and horrified by the alleged incident, and had submitted the complaint after months of discussion with staff legal advisers, the New York Times reported. 
Two UN internal oversight investigators were sent from Geneva to Vienna to question staff about the case, it added. 
The United Nations declined to comment further on the allegation or the probe. 
Lubbers, 65, has run the UN's refugee agency since 2001. 
Edited by Anthea Jonathan