Unicef boss quits – but says it’s NOT over sleazy texts
SHAMED charity boss Justin Forsyth resigned from Unicef last night, insisting it was not because he pestered young women while chief of Save the Children UK.
In a statement he apologised again for ‘inappropriate behaviour and comments’ but claimed growing scrutiny of his actions was aimed at damaging the case for aid.
He said he was stepping down as deputy executive director of the UN children’s agency to protect ‘our wider cause’ rather than for previous ‘mistakes’ towards women, which emerged earlier this week. On Tuesday he admitted he had engaged in ‘ unsuitable and thoughtless conversations’ with three young female staff members while Save the Children chief from 2010 to 2016. He apologised for sending text messages commenting on how they looked and what they wore, which he accepted had caused offence and hurt.
It was revealed yesterday that Save the Children did not tell Unicef about the incidents when Mr Forsyth was appointed in 2016.
In last night’s statement, Mr Forsyth said: ‘I want to make clear I am not resigning from Unicef because of the mistakes I made at Save the Children. They were dealt with through a proper process. I apologised unreservedly at the time. I apologise again.
‘There is no doubt in my mind that some of the coverage... [is] to attempt to do serious damage to our cause and the case for aid. I am resigning because of the danger of damaging both Unicef and Save the Children and our wider cause.’
He also thanked his wife Lisa ‘for her love’. The couple married in 2012 and live in New York with their young son. Yesterday a former Save the Children executive said there had been a ‘predatory’ culture when Mr Forsyth was in charge, with ‘collusion’ to protect those who harassed women. Fazia Shaheen also criticised Brendan Cox, former policy director at the charity, saying that the murder of his wife, Labour MP Jo Cox, in June 2016 did not give him a ‘free pass’ from having abused his power. Mr Cox quit Save the Children in September 2015 following separate allegations of sexual misconduct. Asked about working there at the same time as Mr Forsyth and Mr Cox, Miss Shaheen told BBC2’s Daily Politics programme: ‘A lot of people knew about these rumours, and for the most part people knew them to be true. You did feel like there was sort of predatory behaviour about, and that you had to keep safe, certainly.’
Whistleblowers revealed on Tuesday that Mr Forsyth had made comments on their appearance, their clothes and how he felt about them.
It was claimed that if the women did not reply to texts, he would send a follow-up email and call them in for a chat if they still did not respond. The charity investigated complaints about Mr Forsyth in 2011 and 2015. He apologised to the women and announced his resignation in late 2015. He had previously held senior roles at Oxfam and been a special adviser to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Unicef and Oxfam have confirmed to the Mail that no complaints were made about Mr Forsyth’s behaviour while he was at those organisations.
Unicef said in a statement it was ‘grateful to Mr Forsyth for his work over the past two years’.