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21/02/2005
Lubbers resigns as UN Refugee Chief
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, has resigned from his post, following persistent allegations of sexual impropriety.
The 65-year-old former Dutch Prime Minister denied the allegations, which were made by a female employee, who claimed he sexually harassed her during a meeting in December 2003, and he continues to deny them. He dismissed the accusations as a "campaign of slander" while talking to reporters in New York on Friday.
Mr Lubbers has insisted that "there was no improper behaviour on my part" when formal charges were brought about in May 2004. In July, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, after receiving the results of an investigation against Mr Lubbers, decided that the complaint could not be sustained by the evidence.
However, in a statement released today, Mr Annan said that while he had accepted legal advice that stated that the original allegations against Mr Lubbers could not be substantiated, "the continuing controversy has made the High Commissioner's position impossible".
Mr Annan thanked Mr Lubbers for his "commitment" to refugees, but said: "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."
Mr Lubbers was the ninth head of the UN refugee agency since its establishment in 1951. He had succeeded Sadako Ogata of Japan as High Commissioner in January 2001.
(KmcA)
The 65-year-old former Dutch Prime Minister denied the allegations, which were made by a female employee, who claimed he sexually harassed her during a meeting in December 2003, and he continues to deny them. He dismissed the accusations as a "campaign of slander" while talking to reporters in New York on Friday.
Mr Lubbers has insisted that "there was no improper behaviour on my part" when formal charges were brought about in May 2004. In July, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, after receiving the results of an investigation against Mr Lubbers, decided that the complaint could not be sustained by the evidence.
However, in a statement released today, Mr Annan said that while he had accepted legal advice that stated that the original allegations against Mr Lubbers could not be substantiated, "the continuing controversy has made the High Commissioner's position impossible".
Mr Annan thanked Mr Lubbers for his "commitment" to refugees, but said: "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."
Mr Lubbers was the ninth head of the UN refugee agency since its establishment in 1951. He had succeeded Sadako Ogata of Japan as High Commissioner in January 2001.
(KmcA)
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