As women from around the world gathered at the United Nations this week to discuss gender equality, a US court threw out a case involving sexual harassment of a UN woman employee because her bosses refused to lift the diplomatic immunity of the alleged high-ranking perpetrator.

The embarrassing timing of the judgment by the US appeals court in New York prompted one women's rights group to challenge the UN's claims at this week's conference to be an equal opportunity employer, at least when it comes to dealing with complaints of sexual harassment.

The case involved Cynthia Brzak, a US citizen, who complained that during a meeting in Geneva in 2003 with Ruud Lubbers, the UN's high commissioner for refugees, he improperly touched her. The UN's internal investigators confirmed her allegation, which they said was part of a pattern of behaviour by the senior official.