U.N. official quits amid harass case

GENEVA — 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. Mr. Annan decided at the time that there was insufficient proof for action against the former Dutch prime minister.

However, on Friday, the United Nations let it be known after a long-scheduled meeting between Mr. Annan and Mr. Lubbers in New York that the case was not over and that Mr. Lubbers’ future as high commissioner for refugees was in doubt.

The complainant, an American, said Mr. Lubbers had groped her as she was leaving his office in Geneva after a meeting late in 2003.

London’s Independent said Friday that she had accused him of grabbing her and thrusting his groin into her buttocks and holding her in that position.

Mr. Lubbers, who denies the accusation, was quoted by the newspaper as saying, “This is made up. I think it must have just grown in her mind.”

“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.”

However, according to the newspaper, investigators with the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) said the groping was part of a “pattern of conduct.”

Mr. Annan said yesterday that the controversy swirling around Mr. Lubbers had made the official’s position untenable.

The secretary-general thanked Mr. Lubbers for his “devotion and commitment” and said he was pleased at the decision to resign “in the wider interest” of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Mr. Annan said he had accepted legal advice in the summer that the original complaints against Mr. Lubbers could not be substantiated, but added that “the continuing controversy has made the high commissioner’s position impossible.”

The Friday meeting between Mr. Lubbers and Mr. Annan coincided with publication of the Independent report, the first to detail the complaint.

“Now, in the middle of a series of problems and with ongoing media pressure, you apparently view this differently,” Mr. Lubbers said in his letter to Mr. Annan.

“Despite all my loyalty, insult has now been added to injury and therefore I resign as high commissioner.”

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