Third UN staffer suspended over sexual misconduct

A third United Nations staffer has been suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct after a video emerged that shows an apparent sex act in an official U.N. vehicle in Israel, the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) announced this week.

“A third male international staff member who was in the UN vehicle in Tel Aviv has also been identified as having engaged in alleged misconduct,” said a statement from UNTSO, a branch of the U.N. in charge of monitoring cease-fires in the Middle East.

The staff member has been placed on leave without pay pending the results of an Office of Internal Oversight Services investigation.

The video, which was published last month by Inner City Press, shows a woman in a red dress on top of man in the back seat of a vehicle with U.N. markings in Tel Aviv before the van drives off.

In late June and early July, UNTSO announced that two male staffers in the vehicle have been put on administrative leave after having been identified “as having engaged in misconduct, including conduct of a sexual nature.”

“UNTSO has re-engaged in a robust awareness-raising campaign to ensure its personnel comply with their obligations to the UN Code of Conduct,” the UNTSO said at the time.