Justin Forsyth has resigned as deputy executive director of Unicef following accusations of inappropriate behaviour toward female staff while chief executive of Save the Children.

Forsyth said he was not resigning because of the mistakes he had made while at the charity, but because of attempts to damage aid organisations and the humanitarian sector.

It emerged this week that Forsyth was accused of sending inappropriate texts and making comments to female staff about their appearance on separate occasions in 2011 and 2015 while he was the head of Save the Children.

After the allegations came to light, the former Labour party special adviser said he had issued an unreserved apology to the women involved at the time, and considered the matter closed.

He announced on Thursday that he was tendering his resignation to Unicef with a heavy heart.

“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 many years ago. I apologised unreservedly at the time and face to face. I apologise again,” Forsyth wrote.

“There is no doubt in my mind that some of the coverage around me is not just to [rightly] hold me to account, but also 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. Two organisations I truly love and cherish. I can’t let this happen.”

Unicef said it had accepted Forsyth’s resignation and thanked him for his work over the past two years.

Save the Children apologised on Tuesday to female employees who had previously complained about Forsyth’s behaviour, admitting the allegations were not properly dealt with at the time.



After inquiries into both allegations of inappropriate behaviour toward female staff, which were held in conjunction with an independent trustee, Forsyth apologised to the women concerned.

Despite considering the matter closed following the inquiries, Save the Children said concerns were subsequently raised with trustees that “matters should not have been left as they were”, and a further review was required. That review found the human resources process had not been followed in every aspect, the charity said.

The announcement came after Brendan Cox, the widower of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, resigned from roles at charities he helped to set up in his wife’s memory following sexual harassment allegations while working at Save the Children.

After stepping down from his posts at More in Common and the Jo Cox Foundation, Cox said he made mistakes while working for Save the Children, and had behaved in a way that caused some women hurt and offence.

Cox and Forsyth worked together at 10 Downing Street under Gordon Brown before they both joined Save the Children.

Faiza Shaheen, the director of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies thinktank, worked in Cox’s department at Save the Children between 2014 and 2016. When questioned on Thursday about her time at the charity, she told the BBC’s Daily Politics: “A lot of people knew about these rumours, and for the most part, people knew them to be true. It was majority women working there, and you did feel like there was predatory behaviour about, and that you had to keep safe.

“It was atrocious what happened to Jo Cox, of course, but that isn’t a free pass for Brendan, or anyone else, for abusing their power and assaulting women.”

On Sunday, the charity’s current chief executive, Kevin Watkins, announced a “root and branch review” of Save the Children’s organisational culture, including measures to preserve staff safety and any behavioural challenges among senior leadership.

The charity said the review would start by the end of this week, and aimed to report its findings in June. The final report will be shared with the Charity Commission, and made available to the government and all members of staff, Save the Children said.

Watkins told a panel of MPs on Tuesday that Save the Children dealt with 193 child protection and 35 sexual harassment cases involving allegations against its staff around the world last year. He told the international development select committee that the misconduct cases in 120 countries led to 30 dismissals.

The Haitian government has announced it has temporarily revoked Oxfam’s authorisation to work on the island following recent sexual abuse allegations.