UN Secretary General's Admission Sparks Appeal in Sexual Harassment Case

A UN staff member's lawyer claims that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's admission that he overruled his own investigators in clearing high commissioner Ruud Lubbers of sexual harassment charges will support an appeal against the ruling. The lawyer, Edward Patrick Flaherty, says the admission confirms the validity of the complaint and the investigators' recommendations, which were ignored by Annan. The complaint was filed in May 2005 by a 51-year-old American UN staffer, who is now a senior administrator in the refugee office.

Key Takeaways:

• The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, admitted that he overruled his own investigators in clearing high commissioner Ruud Lubbers of sexual harassment charges.
• The complaint was sustained by the Office of Internal Oversight Services, and Annan's decision in July was wrong, according to the lawyer, Edward Patrick Flaherty.
• A senior UN official stated that if the claims against Lubbers were found to be true, he would be obliged to resign.
• Lubbers, 65, a former prime minister of the Netherlands, became high commissioner for refugees in 2000, and his term concludes at the end of 2005.
• A UN staff member, a 51-year-old American, filed the complaint against Lubbers in May 2005, alleging that he grabbed her behind as she left a staff meeting in his office last December.
• The complaint was filed in American, Dutch, or Swiss courts, and the lawyer requested that Lubbers's diplomatic immunity be lifted.
• Flaherty argued that the document strengthened his client's case that Annan ignored internal UN investigators' recommendations and decided wrongly to keep Lubbers in his post.
• The lawyer stated that the UN has "two sets of rules" and that Lubbers is part of the protected class.

Statistics:

• Filing date of the complaint: May 5
• Filing date of the appeal: October 18
• Number of staff members at the Geneva-based refugee agency: 6,000
• Number of years of service of the UN staffer who filed the complaint: 20

Sources:

• "Confidential UN Report Details Allegations Against a Top Official," by Somini Sengupta, The New York Times, October 20, 2005
• "UN Official's Admission: Troops' Rights Were Trampled", Edward Cody, The Washington Post, October 22, 2005