On Wednesday, the UN’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council nominated the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN’s Committee for Program and Coordination, which meets next month to shape policy on women’s rights, human rights, disarmament, and terrorism prevention. ECOSOC’s nomination is effectively decisive, as the UN General Assembly customarily rubber-stamps such nominations without a vote.

In addition, ECOSOC by acclamation elected China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan to the influential Committee on NGOs, which oversees the work, accreditation and UN access of thousands of human rights and civil society groups that enjoy consulative status at the world body.

The United States was the only ECOSOC member to object, saying that Iran, Cuba and Nicaragua were “unfit.”

UN Watch today called on all democratic ECOSOC member states — Canada, France, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, the UK, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, and Finland — to explain why they joined in the election of serial abusers of human rights to key UN bodies that oversee human rights.

“Appointing China, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia to oversee the work of human rights activists is like putting Al Capone in charge of fighting organized crime,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s truly indefensible, and puts lives at risk.”

“As an organization accredited with special NGO consultative status at the United Nations, and which regularly gives a platform to dissidents from China, Cuba, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Nicaragua, we are gravely concerned that brutal dictatorships were elected to oversee our work and credentials — and it is scandalous that Western democracies put them there.”

“This means dictatorships will have a majority on the committee in order to deny United Nations accreditation to independent organizations that call out their human rights violations, and to accredit more fake front groups created by the regimes,” Neuer said.

“It harms the ability of pro-democracy dissidents to protect the most vulnerable victims and to advocate for human rights inside the United Nations.”

“By their cynical actions at the UN, major Western states have betrayed their own human rights principles, severely undermining the ruled-based international order that they claim to support.”

“We note that Western states did take action in recent years to stop Russia from getting elected to similar ECOSOC bodies, and we deeply regret that they failed to do the same now to stop the election of serial violators such as Iran, China, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan,” said Neuer.

Activists Issued Warning Before ECOSOC Election

Ahead of the election, 70 civil society and human rights groups warned that countries with poor records were at risk of being elected. The group International Service for Human Rights gave a failing grade to China, Cuba, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua and others. Yet their warning was ignored.

Key Documents and Sources

• Video showing ECOSOC’s nomination without objection of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN’s Committee for Program and Coordination: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k12/k12k3u0ohr?kalturaStartTime=4582
• UN document listing election by acclamation of China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan to the Committee on NGOs:
  https://press.un.org/en/2026/ecosoc7225.doc.htm
• UN website showing that ECOSOC members currently include Canada, France, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, the UK, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, and Finland: https://ecosoc.un.org/en/about-us/members
• U.S. statement dissociating itself from ECOSOC decisions, the only one of 54 ECOSOC members to do so: https://usun.usmission.gov/explanation-of-position-on-the-ecosoc-election-of-the-committee-on-non-governmental-organizations-and-the-committee-on-program-and-coordination/

About UN Watch

United Nations Watch is a non-governmental organization based in Geneva whose mission is to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter. UN Watch holds the UN accountable to its founding principles by exposing hypocrisy, bias, and abuses. For more information, visit www.unwatch.org.

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Watch as UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer is the only person in the room to call out regime-proxy Alena Douhan for hijacking the Human Rights Council to attack the West and excuse despots, all while collecting over $1,000,000 from China, Russia, and Qatar. 

Background: The Sanctions Mandate

The UN mandate on Unilateral Coercive Measures (UCMs), a technical term for sanctions, was established by an Iran-sponsored resolution in 2014, with the support of Russia, China, Venezuela, and Cuba. Its primary objective is to invert reality: claiming that Western sanctions, not repressive governments, are to blame for humanitarian crises in targeted countries.

This process grants the facade of UN legitimacy to the twisted narrative that Western nations cause the mass suffering of people in Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and elsewhere. Since sanctions limit the economic power dictators use to secure citizen loyalty, these regimes opt to manipulate the UN and its multi-million dollar reports and conferences funded by your tax dollars, to advance their propaganda and absolve themselves of accountability. To citizens living under strict censorship, the regime-controlled media then reports that an independent and “objective” UN body has “concluded” that their repressive leaders are, in fact, the victims.

The absurdity is furthered by the fact that during the annual UCM debates at the Human Rights Council, regimes inundate the UN with front groups masquerading as legitimate human rights organizations to pollute the dialogue and spread further propaganda.

At the latest Human Rights Council session, a Panel Discussion on UCMs was held, featuring the UCMs mandate holder, Alena Douhan, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk. All NGOs that spoke, except for UN Watch, were regime front groups (GONGOs) acting under the guise of legitimate human rights defenders.

Of the six NGOs that spoke on the UCM panel, five were based in Tehran or Havana. Given how these regimes treat genuine human rights advocates, their location alone makes it clear that they operate in affiliation with their respective regimes. A brief review of their work confirms it.

1. The Cuban United Nations Association (Havana-based)

• Affiliation: Its leaders include former top communist politicians and diplomats, such as the former Cuban Ambassador to Belgium, Norma Goicochea Estenoz, a key member of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, Juan Marinello, and a high-ranking communist politician who served under both Batista and Fidel Castro, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez.
• Propaganda: The group openly states it identifies with the Cuban regime, asserting that the Cuban legal order “protects the exercise of civil, political, cultural, economic and social rights”—a blatant misrepresentation of reality. They routinely accuse the US of a “genocidal campaign against Cuba.”

2. Jameh Ehyagaran Teb Sonnati Va Salamat Iranian (Tehran-based)

• Red Flags: Lacks a public website or identifiable leadership, classic indicators of a GONGO that is only activated to spout propaganda during relevant UN debates, such as the UCM and UPR debates.
• Propaganda: Their limited work focuses on anti-UCM rhetoric. They went so far as to claim that “Western countries (commit) medicinal bio-terrorism,” while predictably ignoring the thousands of Iranian protestors harmed by the regime’s own medical neglect and violence.

3. Medical Support Association for Underprivileged Iranian Patients (Tehran-based)

• Red Flags: Practically no publicly available information; their only activity online is related to UCMs, exposing them as a clear regime front-group.

4. Organization for Defending Victims of Violence (Tehran-based)

• Propaganda: Publishes articles that are blatantly anti-US and anti-Israel (labeling Israel as “pure evil”). In contrast, they compiled official quotes to praise Iran, commending its “significant role in the region” and its “innovative and progressive model of a free and inclusive electoral system”—a surreal claim given Iran’s authoritarian system.

5. Charitable Institute for Protecting Social Victims (Tehran-based)

• Propaganda: While they blamed German police for mistreating arrestees in their German UPR submission, their Iran UPR submission makes zero mention of Iranian police blinding or beating protestors. It focuses exclusively on the impact of UCMs.

Quotes from the UN Debate: 

Russia: Large-scale and uncontrolled use by Western countries of unilateral coercive measures (UCMs) contradict the UN’s fundamental human rights documents.

Islamic Republic of Iran: Financial and trade sanctions are unlawful, and contrary to the Charter of the United Nations.

UN Rapporteur Alena Douhan: It is a privilege for me to participate today in the biennial panel meeting on the impact of unilateral sanctions. Unilateral sanctions regimes violate fundamental human rights, the right to life, right to decent life, freedom from torture, prohibition of discrimination…

UN Rights Chief Volker Turk: Unilateral coercive measures that are inconsistent with international law pose serious risks to the enjoyment of human rights.

Venezuela: Unilateral coercive measures are counter to the United Nations Charter and international law, and are applied as weapons of war.

Cuba: The economic, commercial, financial blockade imposed by the US government has devastating effects on all sectors of Cuban society, in particular, on the right to food.

Pakistan: On unilateral coercive measures (UCMs), Pakistan has consistently maintained that they contravene the UN Charter.

China: UCMs are pure and simple hegemony.

Hillel Neuer, UN Watch:

Madam Chair, this panel is premised on the idea that the greatest threat to human rights today comes from Western sanctions.

In truth, the gravest assault on human dignity comes from authoritarian governments that oppress, jail, and torture their own people.

And so we ask this panel, Is it right that the Special Rapporteur, Ms Douhan, has traveled to Qatar, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Iran, Syria and China, not to defend the victims of these dictatorships, but to lend a UN imprimatur to the propaganda of the oppressors?

Ms Douhan, when the people of Venezuela cried out under Maduro’s misrule, when Syrians were bombed and slaughtered by Assad, when Iranian women were beaten for showing their hair, what was your response? To blame the West and excuse the despots.

Why did your office get $50,000 from Qatar? Why $265,000 from Russia? Why $980,000 from China? Who believes that Sheik Tamim, Vladimir, Putin and Xi Jinping gave $1.3 million to help human rights victims?

And let us be clear, sanctions are not the cause of hunger in Cuba, it comes from a one party system that, for decades, has denied its people freedom, choice, and prosperity.

Ordinary Cubans know it is not sanctions that prevent them from growing food freely or importing without state control, it’s their rulers in Havana.

The UN should be defending victims, not enabling their oppressors. By turning this council into a platform against the West, today’s discussion betrays its mandate.

If we care about human rights, let us first demand accountability from the governments that oppress their own people. I thank you. Vice

UNHRC Vice-President: I cannot fail to notice that we have here derogative language or remarks, and that some of them are personal in nature. This is not acceptable in this forum. No personal attacks against mandate holders should be made in this setting, and I will now continue with the speakers list.

Cuba: Thank you Vice President. Cuba categorically rejects the offensive, out-of-order, politicized comments by UN Watch, a so-called NGO, which, far from constructively contributing to the work of the council, dedicates itself systematically to manipulation, provocation, and insulting sovereign states. It is shameful and unacceptable…

The post Hillel Neuer Exposes the UN’s Alena Douhan and the $1.3 Million Scandal Funding Dictator Propaganda appeared first on UN Watch.

“It’s like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank,” said Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch. “Electing repressive regimes like China, Russia and Turkey to a key UN council, which has the power to expel human rights groups from the UN, is a moral outrage, and shame on our democracies who were complicit.”

Neuer called on UN chief Antonio Guterres, UN rights chief Volker Türk and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to condemn the election of dictatorships to ECOSOC.

“Today’s election diminishes the credibility of the United Nations human rights system and casts a shadow upon the reputation of the organization as a whole,” Neuer said.

Russia won 115 votes, or 61% of those voting in the UN General Assembly ballot yesterday. Turkey won 174 votes (92%); China won 180 votes (95%); Chad won 183 votes (96%); Burundi won 184 votes (97%). Another 13 countries were also elected, including Lebanon, Mozambique and Norway.

UN Watch criticized the EU’s 27 member states, many of whom voted for China, Turkey, Burundi and Chad.

While the UN ballot was secret, the results show that only 9 of 189 UN states voting in the UN General Assembly declined to vote for China. “Consequently, at least 18 EU countries voted for Xi Jinping’s oppressive regime, which has a million Uighur Muslims locked up in camps.”

Likewise, only 15 countries declined to vote for Turkey, meaning at least 12 EU states voted for the Erdogan regime that has imprisoned opposition leaders and severely curtailed civil liberties. The EU even congratulated the Erdogan regime on its election.

A majority of at least 21 EU states voted for serial abusers Burundi and Chad.

ECOSOC is Key UN Organ Overseeing Human Rights Bodies

ECOSOC is the sole principal organ under the UN Charter mandated to adopt resolutions for the purpose of “promoting respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.”

The body accredits and oversees human rights groups at the UN, deciding which of them can participate at the UN Human Rights Council.

“This UN vote gives non-democracies malign influence at the world body. World leaders who failed to prevent it must now speak out for basic decency and morality in UN bodies,” said Neuer.

Importantly, ECOSOC decides which nations will sit on the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and the and the Executive Board of UN Women. As a result, it is more likely that misogynistic regimes like the Islamic Republic of Iran will be elected again to the UN’s top bodies for the empowerment of women and gender equality.

As ECOSOC member, China, Russia and Turkey will also be voting for who gets to sit on the UN’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the UN Commission for Social Development.

The post China, Russia, Turkey Win Seats On UN Organ Overseeing Human Rights appeared first on UN Watch.

NEW YORK, April 22, 2025 — China’s Communist regime is convening a UN meeting tomorrow, April 23rd,  to condemn the United States for “Bullying.”

Entitled “The Impact of Unilateralism and Bullying Practices on International Relations,”  the event will be held as an informal “Arria Formula” meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

According to the meeting’s concept note, the purpose is to condemn the U.S. government’s “arbitrary unilateral tariffs” and rally countries against the U.S. under the guise of defending fairness and justice in international affairs. Among its stated objectives, it lists ensuring that the U.N. aligns on this agenda and takes effective measures to “counter the impact of unilateralism and bullying on international relations.”

Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch, said:  “It’s Orwellian to watch China, one of the world’s leading abusers of economic coercion and human rights, convene a UN meeting to accuse others of bullying. This is the same regime that threatens sanctions on democracies recognizing Taiwan, punishes countries for standing with Uyghurs, and bullies its neighbors in the South China Sea. Beijing’s attempt to hijack the UN to attack the United States is not about peace or development—it’s about shielding authoritarian power from accountability.”

The event, to be broadcast live at 10 am in New York, features two speakers:

• Jeffrey David Sachs, a Columbia University professor notorious for backing dictators Nicolás Maduro, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping
• Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing-based think tank with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party

This initiative by Beijing comes amid a broader diplomatic campaign. In the same week, a meeting was held by the “Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the United Nations,”  which includes China, North Korea, Eritrea, Cuba, Russia, Venezuela, and Iran. The group denounced the “weaponization of tariffs” and echoed China’s calls for a rules-based international order free from “hegemonic interference.”

These efforts reflect a coordinated strategy by authoritarian states to challenge Western influence in international institutions under the banner of defending multilateralism and the UN Charter.

No Joke: China is convening a UN meeting tomorrow to condemn the United States for “Bullying.” https://t.co/9uNcru7cGt

Yet China is a regime that bullies their own people, bullies their neighbors, and bullies anyone who stands up for Taiwan or their persecuted Uyghur miinority. pic.twitter.com/bNm5Fwtxiu

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 22, 2025

#FMsays China supports the international community in using various platforms, including the UNSC, to discuss and deepen understandings on the harm of unilateralism and bullying practices, FM spokesman Lin Jian said as the country is reportedly scheduled to convene an informal… pic.twitter.com/6kNowPVv8p

— China Daily (@ChinaDaily) April 17, 2025

The post China to Convene U.N. Meeting on U.S. “Bullying” appeared first on UN Watch.

UN Watch brought Uyghur American Activist Rushan Abbas to the floor of the U.N. Human Rights Council to discuss U.N. Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan’s improper funding from China.

Full Transcript:

UNHRC President: I would now like to give the floor to Ingenieurs du Monde (for a joint statement with UN Watch).

Rushan Abbas: Mr. President, the code of conduct forbids U.N. experts from accepting any gift or remuneration from any governments for their mandate activities. Resolution 16/21 stresses the need for full transparency in the funding of the special procedures.

We note that Special Rapporteur receiving the highest amount of funds is Ms. Alena Douhan. Over a million dollars in the last three years. Her office received $160,000 from China in 2020, $200,000 in 2021, and another $200,000 in 2023.

For ethics and integrity, appearances matter. Does this Council think it’s right for a rapporteur to receive up to $600,000 from China and then visit that country at Beijing’s request and issue a report that entirely adopts Beijing’s false narrative?

Ms. Douhan’s report shocked the Uyghur human rights community in the world. It ignores crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and it undermines the legitimacy of sanctions to fight state-imposed forced labor and genocide.

In 2021, the UN Board of Auditors expressed concern about agreements between mandate holders and funders. Accordingly, we ask: Will the council publish any agreements between Ms. Douhan’s office and the states donating to her mandate including China?

Will the UN defend its own principles of being impartial, honest, and truthful? I thank you.

UNHRC President: I would like to stress at this point that any attacks against mandate holders cannot be accepted, as I stressed many times since the start of my mandate and as did my predecessors, indeed. Speakers must remain within the rules of the Council and there must be absolute avoidance of any targeting of the mandate holders including by putting forward arguments that have not been verified.

The post Uyghur American Activist Rushan Abbas Confronts the U.N. Over Alena Douhan’s Funding from the CCP appeared first on UN Watch.

During yesterday’s debate, all but two countries (the US and the UK) praised China, including for its supposed “dedication to protecting human rights.” Russia, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Tunisia and Algeria were among some of the countries that praised China’s efforts in protecting and promoting human rights including by commending its “promotion of development and diversity in Xinjiang.”

The first part of China’s review process took place earlier this year on January 23rd and mirrored the same dismal results.

• 80% of countries who spoke chose to praise China.
• 100% of Islamic-majority countries that spoke praised China, despite its continued repression and persecution of its Muslim population. 
• Only 20% of the countries that spoke mentioned the Uyghurs or Xinjiang.

Kuwait praised China for “continuing to bolster religious tolerance in Xinjiang” while Pakistan “appreciates China’s continued commitment to guaranteeing the right to freedom of religion or belief.” Meanwhile, over 1 million Uyghur Muslims are currently detained in Chinese concentration camps.

Russia essentially endorsed the forced erasure of minority cultures and languages in China, recommending that the government “consistently improve the understanding of citizens to use spoken and written Chinese in Xinjiang,” while Somalia completely ignored the perpetual attack on minority communities, commending “China’s protection and inheritance of ethnic minority cultures.”

China also employed dubious tactics to undermine the process and prevent legitimate criticism of its abuses. While there are close to a hundred seats for Press and NGO representatives in the main Human Rights Council room, many were not able to enter the room as hundreds of pro-Chinese groups and students descended on the UN to overwhelm the event. Only a few NGOs were allowed in the room, and that was only after a member of the UN Secretariat staff intervened. Inside the room, former UN staffer, Emma Reilly, who previously uncovered a scheme where the UN was handing names of dissidents to China, reported that there were mysterious ‘reserved’ signs that were put on seats in the NGO section further restricting attendance in the room.

It is also alleged that the Chinese government sought to limit NGOs and other parties from hosting side events or press conferences by using its proxy groups to book up available rooms in the Palais de Nations leaving them empty throughout the scheduled booking. When a legitimate side event did take place it was reported that a Chinese delegate in attendance caused disruptions and disrespected one of the organizers.

Some Chinese activists who were at the UN during the session reported feeling intimidated by pro-Chinese attendees. While attending meetings with different delegations at the Serpentine cafe inside the Palais, one activist who will remain unnamed for the safety of her family back in China, reported being pointed at and followed. This was not the first time she had faced intimidation and reprisals for speaking out at the UN. When she first testified in New York back in 2015 she was put under 24-hour police protection following threats. In addition, there have also been reports of several incidents of pictures being taken of activists by purported representatives of the Chinese government, which is strictly against UN rules. Uyghur activist, Rushan Abbas, witnessed this while standing in line waiting to be let into the Human Rights Council room. It took repeated pleas from multiple parties for UN security to eventually confront the delegate and ask him to delete the pictures. In the council room, she also witnessed a pro-Chinese representative sitting behind a Tibetan NGO representative seemingly spying and taking notes of her computer screen. Again this is not the first time a Chinese operative has been caught doing this at the UN.

UN staff also seemed to have caved under Chinese pressure. Despite continued requests for the past several months by Tibetan and Uyghur groups to speak with Volker Turk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, they were told he was unavailable at the last minute due to what his team called “an unfortunate and unintended scheduling conflict.” China also reportedly sent out a note verbal before the UPR urging the UN to prevent ‘anti-China separatists’ from attending the UPR and strictly preventing the distribution of material they did not like. While Chinese propaganda proliferated around the Palais, posters put up by activist groups that denounced Chinese violations were removed by UN staff. When confronted, one staff member cited an arbitrary rule, referring to a cartoon image of a child on one of the posters, which is not in the official guidelines. For other posters, they provided no explanation.

In the somber words of one activist: “That day at the UN felt like I was back in mainland China. And it was terrifying.”

The post The UN is Broken: China Showered with Praise at its 2024 UN Human Rights Record Review appeared first on UN Watch.

Abuses by those candidates are detailed in a new joint NGO report published today by UN Watch, Human Rights Foundation and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, independent non-governmental human rights organizations based in Switzerland, the U.S. and Canada.

“Electing the dictatorships of China, Russia and Cuba as UN judges on human rights is like making a gang of arsonists into the fire brigade,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights group based in Geneva.

“It will be slap in the face to their thousands of political prisoners, and to millions of their other citizens subjected to repression, if the UN makes gross abusers into global judges and guardians of human rights,” said Neuer.

“When the UN’s highest human rights body becomes a case of the foxes guarding the henhouse, the world’s victims suffer.”

Because there is no competition in the Asian and African regional groups, with each fielding four candidates for four available seats, China, Burundi and Kuwait are almost guaranteed to win, despite their poor records on human rights.

Fortunately, there is competition in the Latin American group, with police state Cuba vying against Brazil, Dominican Republic and Peru for three available seats, and in the East European group, where Russia is competing with Albania and Bulgaria for two open seats.

“We need to hear the US and EU member states lead the call to oppose the worst abusers. So far, at least in the public arena, they have been silent.”

The report also listed Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Malawi and Peru as having “questionable” credentials, due to problematic human rights and UN voting records that should be improved.

Currently, more than two-thirds of UNHRC members are non-democracies, including Qatar, Sudan, Eritrea, Algeria, Somalia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

Call to Reform Election System

UN Watch is proposing a major reform to the election system. “If our own democracies continue to disregard the election criteria by voting for abusers,” said Neuer, “then we should just scrap elections altogether, and make every country a member, as is the case in the General Assembly’s own human rights committee. Non-democracies could no longer hold up their UNHRC election as a shield of international legitimacy to cover up the abuses of their regime.”

“Regrettably,” said Neuer, “the EU has not said a word about hypocritical candidacies that only undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the UN human rights system. By turning a blind eye as human rights violators easily join and subvert the council, leading democracies will be complicit in the world body’s moral decline.”

Click for Report

The post Report: China, Russia, Cuba Running for Seats on U.N. Human Rights Council appeared first on UN Watch.

BRAVO: Our 🇨🇦 Ambassador @BobRae just took the floor at the UN today on behalf of 50 nations to call out China's “arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang” which “may constitute crimes against humanity.” /1 https://t.co/A6KgZvQCXb pic.twitter.com/HUh3KEoLOj

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 31, 2022

Speaking today on behalf of 50 nations, Canada’s Ambassador to the UN Bob Rae took the floor at the General Assembly’s human rights committee  to call out China’s “arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang” which “may constitute crimes against humanity.”

Transcript of Joint statement on behalf of 50 countries in the UN General Assembly Third Committee on the human rights situation in Xinjiang, China. Delivered by Canadian Ambassador Bob Rae, New York, 31 October 2022

I have the honor of delivering this cross-regional joint statement on behalf of the following 50 countries: Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Eswatini, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Montenegro, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, and my own country Canada.

We are gravely concerned about the human rights situation in the People’s Republic of China, especially the ongoing human rights violations of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

The release of the recent UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China, corroborates these concerns in an impartial and objective manner. The assessment finds that the scale of the arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity”.

As an independent, authoritative assessment that relies extensively on China’s own records, it makes an important contribution to the existing evidence of serious and systematic human rights violations in China. This includes evidence of large-scale arbitrary detention and systematic use of invasive surveillance on the basis of religion and ethnicity; severe and undue restrictions to legitimate cultural and religious practices, identity and expression, including reports of destruction of mosques, shrines and cemeteries; torture, ill-treatment and sexual and gender-based violence, including forced abortion and sterilization; enforced disappearances and family separations; and forced labour. Such severe and systematic violations of human rights cannot be justified on the basis of counter-terrorism.

In view of the gravity of the OHCHR assessment, we are concerned that China has so far refused to discuss its findings. In that context, we urge the Government of China to uphold its international human rights obligations and to fully implement the recommendations of the OHCHR assessment. This includes taking prompt steps to release all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in Xinjiang, and to urgently clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing family members and facilitate safe contact and reunion.

We believe that addressing human rights violations, engaging in meaningful dialogue, and working together as partners are foundational to creating more inclusive societies where all can fully enjoy their human rights. We encourage all to adopt this approach. Thank you.

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Remarks by Jianli Yang,  UN Watch Press Conference, New York, October 3, 2022, concerning the Complaint filed against the UN Human Rights Council’s senior official Eric Tistounet for systematically targeting UN Watch.

The fact that we cannot hold this event inside the UN headquarters speaks volumes about the question we’re asking today: Does the United Nations have the will or means to provide a voice for the voiceless?

This question is particularly grave when it comes to the oppressed people living under tyrannical autocracies such as the Chinese government that does represent the people of China at home or at the United Nations.

UN Watch has been instrumental in helping victims of human rights violations from around the world speak truth to power. It has lent a voice to the voiceless and empowered the powerless. And it tries to do everything in its capacity to help the UN defend its Charter and the UN Human Rights Council uphold its principles.

But unfortunately, the secretariat of the UN Human Rights Council is now aggressively engaging in discriminatory actions against this UN-accredited NGO, attempting to silence it and the voice it helps bring to the UN — the very voice that should be heard and yet would not otherwise be heard by the UN and the world.

The secretariat of the UN Human Rights Council, by doing so, is in effect helping the world’s dictators in their efforts to dampen criticism of their human rights abuses and weaken the UN’s ability to foster better human-rights conditions. This is a very serious issue that deserves the immediate attention and actions of the world’s democracies.

It’s no surprise that the Chinese government seeks to obstruct human rights activists’ participation in UN processes. What is surprising, however, is the UN’s handling of such situations.

According to the courageous whistleblower Emma Reilly the Chinese government regularly submits a list of individuals that it portrays as “security threats” and requests that the UN inform the Chinese Mission in Geneva if any of these individuals are accredited as participants for the upcoming Human Rights Council session.

The UN Human Rights Office has cooperated with China for many years by sharing the names of activists — including Uighurs, Tibetans, Hongkongers and Chinese dissidents — who took part in UN activities, including myself.

In 2013, as an accredited NGO participant at the UN General Assembly, I was forcefully ejected from the UN headquarters while attending a forum challenging China’s membership qualification for the Human Rights Council.

Before speaking as an accredited NGO speaker at the March 2018 UN Human Rights Council session, I was aggressively photographed by Chinese officials.

In March 2019, I was stopped by UN security officials at the Palace of Nations in Geneva for the “reason” that I didn’t hold a passport of any UN member country.

The UN’s actions have endangered not only myself but also my family. Each time I participate in UN activities, my relatives in China are harassed, surveilled, interrogated, and subjected to psychological abuse.

The UN’s kowtowing to China shows how powerful member-states are able to work within the UN system to undermine its ability to enforce compliance with global human rights standards.

The UN should be held accountable for such spineless, cowardly, irresponsible and corrupt practices.

The post Chinese dissident Yang Jianli condemns UNHRC targeting of UN Watch appeared first on UN Watch.

Only 10 NGOs speak under each ID debate. Instead of UN Watch being allowed to speak, the UN human rights secretariat headed by Mr. Eric Tistounet gave the slots to several Chinese  state-sponsored “NGOs.” Following is a selection of their propaganda testimonies before the UNHRC.

“United Nations Association of China”
23/6/22
Item 3: Interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity

“In two weeks time, Hong Kong will be celebrating its 25th anniversary of its handover back to our motherland and is now enjoying a Hong Kong style, capitalist democracy. [then attacks the US]”

“The National Security Law and the new elections system have been seen by those against China as restricting the rights of Hong Kong people, but have in fact safeguarded the rights and interests of its people adn businesses in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has moved from chaos to stability and is now on a new journey towards regaining prosperity and sound governance.”

“Beijing NGO Association for International Exchanges”
23/6/22
Item 3: Interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity

“My name is Rev. and Dr. Edmund Ng, a pastor and a scholar from Hong Kong. From my experience, the freedom of speech in religious and academic areas has maintained under the implementation of One Country, Two System in the past 25 years. After the implementation of the National Security Law, the above-mentioned freedoms have been more fully guaranteed.”

“China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation”
24/6/22
Item 3: Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human

“China has successfully eradicated extreme poverty at the end of 2020, 10 years ahead of the time, making an example for other developing countries. The practices of poverty reduction in China provide plenty of valuable experiences for developing countries.”

“YouChange China Social Entrepreneur Foundation”
24/6/22
Item 3: Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human

“In 2021, China got out of extreme poverty. This is a groundbreaking event which shows China’s united faith and strength. Meanwhile, it encourages the global efforts to remove poverty.

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