Maldives foreign ministry has confirmed that an internal investigation has been launched into allegations that a senior diplomat had sexually harassed a female staff.
The move came after increasing calls across social networking sites to investigate the allegations while many including some ministry staff had accused senior officials of turning a deaf ear to the alleged incident.
Ministry in a statement confirmed that an internal committee tasked with the investigation of sexual abuse and harassment complaints had launched an investigation into the allegations.
According to the social media reports, the unidentified diplomat had sexually harassed a female staff during an official trip abroad in April this year.
Some staff had claimed that the foreign ministry had failed to properly investigate the incident.
The incident had been reported to the internal committee at the ministry but it had been "swept under the rug" citing lack of evidence, the staff had said.
"The Ministry is working towards strengthening existing institutional mechanisms to address issues of sexual harassment, to ensure zero tolerance towards sexual harassment within the institution and also to ensure a safe working environment for all its staff," the statement read.
