Putting Lives At Risk: Handing names to China and Accepting Favors

March, 2014 – UN Watch invites Ti-Anna Wang to speak during the 25th regular session of the Human Rights Council. Ti-Anna Wang is the daughter of the imprisoned Chinese activist Wang Bingzhang who has been languishing in Chinese prison since he was abducted in Vietnam in 2002 for his pro-democracy advocacy. During this period Tistounet was instructing his staff to provide Beijing delegates with the names of Chinese human rights defenders speaking at UN meetings in Geneva in advance.  Upon learning of Mrs. Wang’s forthcoming testimony China attempted to silence Ms. Wang and prevent her from speaking at the session. After that effort failed, a representative of an NGO with close ties to the Chinese government intimidated and harassed Ms. Wang by taking unauthorized photos of her and her computer while she was sitting in the Human Rights Council session on China.

The New York Times reported on the incident and in an email exchange, Ms. Wang described the incident like this:

I was sitting at a desk using my computer in the last row of the room where the council was in session. It was right next to the N.G.O. speakers desk. The room was waiting for the session on China’s adoption of the UPR [Universal Periodic Review] to start. It must have been around 5:20 p.m.

Several Chinese people from a Chinese N.G.O. were sitting directly behind. Unbeknownst to me, one of the Chinese men used a computer tablet to take unauthorized photographs of me. A U.N. Secretariat staff member saw what was happening and asked him to stop, as you are not supposed to take photographs in the room at all.

A few minutes later, I turned around to make sure that the man had stopped, but I found him continuing to photograph me! He was hiding the tablet inside his suit but the camera part was clearly sticking out, pointing at me. I went to talk to the staff who had previously reprimanded him and a security guard inside the room.

Security escorted out the man out of room, inspected the photographs, and confirmed that there were several photographs of me, my computer screen, and my personal belongings. According the security guards, the other pictures were of the room and no other individuals were targeted. The security guard then ordered the gentleman to delete the photos in front of him. The Chinese man was from the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture.

I obviously feel violated and repulsed, but I am more angry that a U.N. accredited so-called N.G.O. would engage in espionage. Looking back, I really regret not making a scene to publicly embarrass them right there and then, and bring attention to the existence and behavior of these “N.G.O.s”.

The UN ultimately expelled the Chinese spy over his improper conduct, but no action was taken against China or the NGO with which the spy was affiliated.

Tistounet’s egregious methods has put the wellbeing of at least 4 other Chinese dissidents at risk and directly violate several provisions of the UN Charter and Staff Regulations, the Human Rights Office’s staff rules and the Code of Conduct for International Civil Servants.

A UN Ethics Office memo denying Emma Reilly protection against retaliation for her whistleblowing activities provides various instances and pieces of evidence of abuse of power, intimidation, and corruption carried out by Tistounet and other UN officials around him. In particular the complaint discusses evidence about how Tistounet accepted financial favors from the Moroccan Ambassador during one of Tistounet’s book launch events as well as used irregular and corrupt recruitment practices for selecting the Deputy High Commissioner.