U.N. Refugee Boss Denies Sexual Harassment

GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations (news - web sites) High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers Tuesday confirmed that a member of his staff had filed a complaint against him alleging sexual harassment, but denied the allegations.


Lubbers, a former prime minister of the Netherlands, said in a statement read to reporters in Geneva that there had been "no improper behavior on his part," but a U.N. investigation was under way.

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Lubbers said: "It has been brought to my attention by Dileep Nair, the head of the Office of Internal Oversight, that a complaint about sexual harassment has been filed against me by a UNHCR staff member.


"The complaint refers to a formal meeting in my office on December 18, 2003. The meeting was attended by five other staff members. The complaint was filed on April 27 of this year, more than four months after the alleged harassment. In that meeting of last December 18, there was no improper behavior on my part."


According to the New York Times, the alleged incident occurred at the end of the meeting as the woman and other staff members were leaving the room. The woman later told colleagues that she was "shocked and horrified" by what had happened.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&ncid=586&e=6&u=/nm/20040518/wl_nm/un_lubbers_dc