Save the Children boss in text scandal

Charity’s former chief quit after admitting he sent inappropriate messages to staff

THE former chief executive of Save the Children resigned after he admitted making “unsuitable and thoughtless” comments to three young female members of staff, it emerged last night.

Justin Forsyth, who is now deputy executive director at Unicef, “apologised unreservedly” to the women after sending them text messages commenting on how they looked and what they were wearing.

It represents the latest scandal facing the charity sector after it emerged that senior Oxfam staff paid prostitutes while working in Haiti following an earthquake in 2010.

Mr Forsyth’s resignation from Save the Children came just four months after Brendan Cox, a friend of Mr Forsyth and former chief strategist at the charity, quit following separate allegations of sexual misconduct.

Mr Forsyth and Mr Cox worked together at Oxfam and later again as advisers to Gordon Brown in Downing Street.

Mr Cox, the widower of the late Jo Cox, who was murdered in 2016, admitted at the weekend that he had caused the women “hurt and offence”. Neither Mr Forsyth nor Mr Cox was subject to a formal disciplinary hearing.

Save the Children said last night that trustees had carried out two internal investigations into the complaints against Mr Forsyth in 2011 and 2015. It admitted that it should have conducted a further review and that “matters should not have been left”.

The women who complained about Mr Forsyth’s behaviour told the BBC he sent them a “barrage” of text messages that left them feeling deeply uncomfortable.

If they did not respond, he allegedly sent them emails, and if they still refused to engage, they were called over by Mr Forsyth for a private “chat”.

Save the Children is said to have dealt with each complaint by implementing a mediation process where Mr Forsyth apologised to the women.

Last night, one of the complainants, who remained anonymous, said: “The complaints of harassment were not treated with the appropriate degree of seriousness.

“It seems there was more interest in preventing the exposure of misconduct than in protecting its female employees from predatory behaviour.”

Another told the BBC: “It was my dream to work for an organisation like Save the Children but the longer you are there, the more you are exposed to some of their bravado and that’s both at head office and in the field.

“Other women tell you to watch out for certain senior people. You start to hear rumours about some of the directors but, of course, until it happens to you, which it did, you don’t really appreciate how hard it is to deal with.”

One former senior staff member added: “The centre of this crisis was not in Haiti or in Chad, it was in London and it went all the way to the top.”

In a statement last night Mr Forsyth said: “I made some personal mistakes during my time at Save the Children.

“I recognise that on a few occasions I

had unsuitable and thoughtless conversations with colleagues, which I now know caused offence and hurt

“When this was brought to my attention on two separate occasions, I apologised unreservedly to the three colleagues involved and my apologies were accepted and I thought the issue was closed many years ago.”

A spokesman for Save the Children said: “The review will commence by the end of this week and report in June 2018. The final report will be published, shared with the Charity Commission

‘When this was brought to my attention on two separate occasions, I apologised unreservedly’

and made available to the Government and every single member of staff.

“We apologise for any pain these matters have caused and sincerely hope that the complainants feel able to help us with the review in the coming weeks. This is so that we can better support our skilled and highly valued staff as they help change the lives of millions of children around the world every day.”

A spokesman for Unicef, where Mr Forsyth now works, said: “We welcome Mr Forsyth’s decision to come forward and acknowledge past mistakes. We are discussing this matter with Mr Forsyth and his former employer so we can take appropriate action.”

The charitable sector has come under fire since it emerged that Oxfam allowed aid workers in Haiti to resign after it emerged they had been using prostitutes.

Save the Children admitted yesterday that it dealt with 193 child protection and 35 sexual harassment cases last year, which led to 30 dismissals.