Ruud Lubbers
Rudolphus Franciscus Marie "Ruud" Lubbers (born May 7, 1939) is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He was prime minister of the Netherlands from 1982 until 1994, as a member of the Christian CDA party. A strong political conservative, during his time in office, Lubbers was regarded by many as a heir to Margaret Thatcher; one of his campaign slogans was: "meer markt, minder overheid" (more market, less government).
Lubbers was born in Rotterdam. He studied economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and was a student of the first Nobel Prize Laureate in economics Jan Tinbergen. He started his career as a minister for Economic Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Joop den Uyl, 1973-1977. He was an effective, if sometimes somewhat bad-tempered minister. His career got an unexpected boost when the leader of the parliamentary faction of the CDA, Willem Aantjes, had to resign in 1978 on accusations that he served in the Waffen SS during the Second World War. Lubbers took over the position of Aantjes and suddenly found himself in a powerful political position.
In 1982 after the general election won by Prime Minister Dries van Agt, a similar thing happend when Van Agt suddenly announced he would not be available for a third term. Lubbers took over the post, a position he held until 1994, making him the longest serving prime minister in the history of The Netherlands.
Major aspects of his time in office:
After leaving office, was put forward as a candidate for the head of NATO, but the US vetoed his appointment. On January 1, 2001 he became the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In October 2003, his three year term was extended for another two years, to December 31, 2005.
Sexual harassment allegation
In May 2004 the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) has launched an investigation into an allegation by a 51-year-old American female administrator in the human resources department of the refugee organisation, that Lubbers has harassed her sexually while she left a meeting in December 2003. The OIOS expanded the investigation and questioned many UN personnel to determine if there was "a broader context." Lubbers claims that he just made a friendly gesture and that it was a misunderstanding, possibly caused by a colleague who jokingly gave the gesture a sexual connotation. The woman waited more than four months before filing a formal complaint.
On July 15 2004 Lubbers was declared innocent by Secretary General Kofi Annan thus resolving the situation, though Annan was critical about the way Lubbers handled the situation: he wrote a letter asking the woman to withdraw the allegation, and promised that in that case the matter would have no negative consequences for her. Some argue that this could be construed as a threat in the case that she would refuse.
