Greenpeace sacks two staffers accused of sexual assault

Greenpeace India on Tuesday terminated the services of its two employees—one said to be involved in a number of sexual harassment cases, while the second is accused of raping a colleague.

The action came after an internal review conducted by Greenpeace International at the request of a Greenpeace India former staff member, who had complained of sexual harassment.

“Greenpeace India has ended the employment of two staff members. One was an accused in several sexual harassment cases, while one was accused of rape involving a female employee. The NGO also published a review of the way it responded to the sexual harassment cases,” said a statement.

The staff members, who had previously submitted their resignation, were informed on Tuesday that they must leave the organisation immediately and would not be required to serve out their formal notice period, it said.

The issue came in the public domain last week when an ex-employees posted on a web forum that she had to leave her job in 2013 after being sexually harassed and raped by her colleague.

There were allegations that the NGO did not take proper action against the accused. It had earlier tendered an unconditional apology for the way it handled a case of alleged sexual harassment, and said it was investigating the matter.

The statement said the Greenpeace International review handed down multiple recommendations to Greenpeace India to ensure strong and visible steps to reset the workplace culture and ensure zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Following this, Greenpeace India has set up a new Internal Complaints Committee to address previous failures in its internal process, and expressed full commitment to ensuring that incidents of sexual harassment are never repeated within the organisation.