The UN Resident Coordinator to Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, Sanaka Samarasinha, is on administrative leave with full pay, and the organization says that they received complaints of possible alleged unsatisfactory conduct implicating Samarasinha.
In the official response, the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator says this matter is currently under consideration and being taken very seriously.
It also says administrative leave is an administrative measure, and is not a disciplinary measure.
They say all due process rights will be respected.
Given confidentiality requirements, no other information on the process can be provided.
The Office also says that Samarasinha was coming to the end of his assignment, and his successor had already been selected.
The proposed candidate will be presented to the Fiji Government shortly for the host country agreement.
In the meantime, Heike Alefsen, Regional Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for the Pacific, has been appointed as Resident Coordinator ad interim.
Samarasinha could not be reached for comments.
