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Monday, February 21, 2005

Sexual Harassment at the UN

More skeevy activity at the United Nations:

U.N. refugee chief Ruud Lubbers resigned in the face of sexual harassment charges yesterday, saying he was insulted at the way the case had been handled by his boss, Kofi Annan.

Just two days after insisting that he would stay in his Geneva post, Mr. Lubbers released a bitter resignation letter to the U.N. secretary-general in which he said he felt let down by an apparent change of mind by Mr. Annan regarding the case.

The complaints, by a 51-year-old female employee of the refugee agency, were investigated by the United Nations over the summer.

Oi. Annan’s incompetence is probably the story here, as, by Lubbers’ account, the incident in question was probably nothing at all: “I ushered the woman out of the room with my hand on her back and that is all. … You might call it familiar, but certainly not sexual harassment.”

And I think Lubbers deserves the benefit of the doubt. It’s far too easy to levy harassment charges, and his explanation sounds honest. What’s ironic is that the hyper-sensitive liberal culture that the UN propagates is precisely what permits precarious accusations such as these.

As for Kofi, he’s just thinking about his image when he “changes his mind.”

Posted on February 21, 2005 10:01 AM. Permalink