Editing Ruud Lubbers (section)

===== Handling of the UNHCR/SC-UK 2002 report on sexual exploitation in the aid sector in West Africa =====

Three years prior to the controversy over the sexual harassment case, Lubbers was criticised for his handling of the UNHCR/SC-UK 2002 which uncovered the widespread sexual exploitation of refugee children by aid workers and peacekeepers in three West African countries (Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone). The study team which had encountered these findings unexpectedly whilst conducting a broader assessment documented 67 allegations implicating 40 aid agencies and several peacekeeping battalions, often involving humanitarian workers and peacekeepers exchanging meagre aid supplies for sex with children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/uk/partners/partners/3c7cf89a4/note-implementing-operational-partners-unhcr-save-children-uk-sexual-violence.html|title=Note for Implementing and Operational Partners by UNHCR and Save the Children-UK on Sexual Violence & Exploitation: The Experience of Refugee Children in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|last=Refugees}}</ref><ref>https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/content/dam/global/reports/health-and-nutrition/sexual_violence_and_exploitation_1.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>
Lubbers' response was to deny these findings, discredit the authors and excuse these behaviours; for example in a CNN interview on 8 May 2002, Lubbers was heard to deny the problem in the face of CNN's own research which confirmed the problem existed and was taken to task by the interviewer for dismissing these exploitative relationships ''inter alia'' as 'romances'.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://transcripts.cnn.com/|title=CNN.com – Transcripts|website=CNN}}</ref> The UN General Assembly passed resolution A/RES/57/306, 'Investigation into sexual exploitation of refugees by aid workers in West Africa' in May 2003, requiring the UN to take action at the highest level to tackle such abuses.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N02/561/73/PDF/N0256173.pdf?OpenElement|title=ODS HOME PAGE|first=ODS|last=Team|website=documents-dds-ny.un.org}}</ref> This led to the UN Secretary-General's Bulletin, 'Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse' in October 2003,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/focal-points/documents-public/secretary-general-s-bulleting-special-measures-protection-sexual|title=Secretary-General's Bulletin: Special measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, 2003 – IASC|website=interagencystandingcommittee.org}}</ref> and an endorsement of the Inter-agency Standing Committee's working group on sexual abuse and exploitation which had already been set up a year earlier in June 2002 in response to the report.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/product-categories/protection-sexual-abuse-and-exploitation|title=Protection from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation – IASC|website=interagencystandingcommittee.org}}</ref>