Sweden’s top diplomat suffered sexual harassment

STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said on Wednesday she had experienced sexual harassment "at the highest level of politics" as she announced she had joined the #MeToo campaign on Facebook.

"I can confirm that this occurs at the highest level of politics and that I myself have experienced it," Wallstrom told Sweden’s TT news agency.

She said she didn’t want to speak about it "in a too personal manner" nor did she confirm that an incident took place during a meeting of European officials.

"We have to think about our laws. How can we change public attitudes and what can we do with the means at our disposal to put an end" to sexual harassment, she said.

Wallstrom, who has been in her post since 2014, has been charged by Prime Minister Stefan Lofven with pursuing a "feminist diplomacy" that urges respect for women’s rights and freedoms as part of Sweden’s international relations.

In 2015, ties with Riyadh were frozen after she called Saudi Arabia a "dictatorship", denouncing in particular its treatment of women in brazen terms that other Western diplomats might have avoided in dealing with the oil-rich state.