The Cost of Impunity: Tistounet Continues Systematic Silencing of UN Watch

May, 2023 – In the 53rd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council, Tistounet blocked UN Watch from testifying in debates concerning abuses in Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Venezuela and Russia. Other NGOs received between 30%-90% of the slots they applied for, while UN Watch received only 1 opportunity to speak. This represents a negative 19% deviation from the percentage of slots UN Watch should have received (if they were treated equally without manipulation of speaking slots against them). Other large NGOs close to Tistounet received positive deviations ranging from 10%-70%, meaning they received 10-70% more slots then they were statistically likely to receive. Two NGOs even received 100% of the slots they applied for granting them a total of 5 opportunities to speak. Amnesty spoke a total of 19 separate times. Again the numbers do not lie.