GENEVA — The director of the United Nations agency that combats AIDS said Thursday he will step down next year, an announcement that came days after a panel of experts issued a damning review of a leadership style it said had enabled harassment and bullying.

Michel Sidibé, the executive director of the agency, UNAIDS, was due to hold office until January 2020, but he told a meeting of the organization’s governing board in Geneva that he would complete his duties at the end of June.

Mr. Sidibé, a native of Mali, “indicated his wish to have an orderly transition of leadership,” Sophie Barton-Knott, a spokeswoman for the organization, said in an email.

In a report released on Friday, four independent experts called for a change of leadership at the agency, saying Mr. Sidibé had fostered a cult of personality and a patriarchal style of management that “enabled a culture of harassment, including sexual harassment, bullying, and abuse of power.”

A staff member cited by the experts said senior colleagues had used agency resources “to access sex workers” and described the organization as “a predators’ prey ground.” The staff member was quoted as saying that agency officials had used “promises of jobs, contracts and all sorts of opportunities” to get what they wanted, “especially in terms of sexual favors.”

While acknowledging Mr. Sidibé’s “outstanding contribution,” the experts said the organization was in crisis and they had no confidence that his leadership would change the culture.

Critics believed the hard-hitting report left Mr. Sidibé little choice but to resign or, lacking that, left United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres few options but to fire him.

In an email sent to the staff after the report came out, Mr. Sidibé acknowledged that he was the person most responsible for the organizational culture, but set out a five-point agenda for change and signaled his intention to continue leading.

The UNAIDS governing board decided Thursday to set up a working group to oversee Mr. Sidibé’s proposed overhaul, deferring discussion of the experts’ report to a special meeting sometime before March.

The situation has angered Sweden, the agency’s second-biggest donor, which provided funding of close to $300 million last year. Isabella Lovin, its international development cooperation minister, told the Stockholm daily Svenska Dagbladet that Sweden will freeze all funding while Mr. Sidibé remains in the post.

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