UNICEF Official Resigns Over His Past Conduct Toward Women

A senior official at UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, resigned Thursday amid allegations that he had behaved inappropriately toward women in his previous job, when he was chief executive of the British charity Save the Children.

The official, Justin Forsyth, said in a statement that he was resigning as deputy executive director “because of the danger of damaging both UNICEF and Save the Children and our wider cause.”

He maintained that his decision was not based on “the mistakes I made” at Save the Children. “They were dealt with through a proper process many years ago,” he said in the statement. “I apologized unreservedly at the time and face to face. I apologize again.”

This week, an investigation by BBC Radio found that Forsyth had faced three complaints of inappropriate behavior — including sending text messages to women commenting on their appearance — before he left Save the Children. He became a deputy executive director at UNICEF, one of several, in May 2016.

The resignation is the latest of several controversies that have roiled the British charitable sector this month.

The British charity Oxfam disclosed that several employees hired and exploited prostitutes while providing humanitarian relief in Chad and Haiti. Brendan Cox, the widower of a lawmaker who was assassinated in 2016 by a right-wing extremist, stepped down from two charities this month after accusations of sexual misconduct resurfaced.

Forsyth worked for Oxfam from 1989-2004. From 2004-10, he advised two British prime ministers, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, on development, climate change and humanitarian policies, helping shape the British position at the Group of 8 and G-20 summit meetings.

In his resignation statement, Forsyth said he had worked for 30 years to fight injustice and poverty in places like South Africa, Rwanda and Syria. “We have sometimes failed, but I feel privileged to have had the chance to help millions of children,” he said.

UNICEF’s executive director, Henrietta H. Fore, said in a statement that she had accepted Forsyth’s resignation.

“We are grateful to Mr. Forsyth for his work over the past two years to advocate for the most vulnerable children and help advance UNICEF’s mission to save children’s lives,” she said. “This mission is now more important than ever.”