Trending UN Watch tweets from May 2020: UN Watch exposes China’s culture of corruption in the World Health Organization and calls for the removal of its “Goodwill Ambassador” James Chau, a paid propagandist for China TV; Beijing makes Coronavirus whistleblowers disappear; and the U.N. plans to elect Turkey’s representative as president of the General Assembly.
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UN Watch tweets revealing China’s outsized influence over the WHO were liked and shared by thousands worldwide, including journalists such as Aris Roussinos of Vice News, editor Timo Lokoschat at Germany’s BILD, and Canada’s Tarek Fatah; and human rights activists Maajid Nawaz and Ahmad Batebi.
China threatened the WHO it would end cooperation on investigating the Coronavirus outbreak if the agency declared a global health emergency in January—as Beijing bought up PPE worldwide. Germany: President Xi Jinping personally pressured the WHO chief. https://t.co/Tquta8Gm6j
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 14, 2020
"People think the World Health Organization should change its name, it shouldn't be called the WHO, it should be renamed the CHO — the Chinese Health Organization."
—Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso pic.twitter.com/adHsWozMro
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 14, 2020
In a Newsweek op-ed, UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer revealed that James Chau, a Chinese TV propagandist, has been abusing his role as a WHO Goodwill Ambassador to whitewash China’s bungled response to the Coronavirus
UN Watch then led a Joint Appeal of 100 NGOs calling on the U.N. to remove Chau from his post. The story has been covered by the Financial Times, the New York Post, EFE, Der Spiegel and others.
Diplomats, politicians and thought leaders reacted to UN Watch’s exposé on Chau, including Indian Defence Forum editor Yusuf Unjhawala; Hong Kong barrister Wilson Leung; Foundation for the Defense of Democracies CEO Mark Dubowitz; Indian MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar; Uber executive Justin Sprat.
Many journalists also liked or shared UN Watch tweets on James Chau, including former World Health Organization executive Chitra Subramaniam, New York Post editor Kelly Jane Torrance, and Ottawa Citizen columnist Terry Glavin.
Today in a leading international news magazine we will unmask the depth of China's influence over the World Health Organization.
It's far worse than you imagined.
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 19, 2020
This sounds like a joke. It's not.
Meet the W.H.O.'s Goodwill Ambassadors:
🇨🇳 Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, and Major General in the People’s Liberation Armyhttps://t.co/tZSY6flJh5
🇨🇳 James Chau, propagandist for Chinese state TVhttps://t.co/oudYEfyVls pic.twitter.com/JwfkcxgM0D
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 20, 2020
🇨🇳 China's hold over the WHO is far worse than anyone realized.@nypost cites our report: "Among the World Health Organization’s 'Goodwill Ambassadors' are Chinese President Xi Jinping’s wife and a reporter with ties to Chinese state-run media outlet."
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 21, 2020
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UN Watch continued to press Beijing on its crackdown on civil liberties and absurd influence at the U.N. Human Rights Council, where it sits on a panel that will select world monitors on health and free speech. Thousands reacted, including Canadian MP Peter Kent, Tasmanian Green Party MP Cassy O’Connor, Global News investigative journalist Sam Cooper, and Sky News Australia‘s Rita Panahi.
I'm not making this up:
🇨🇳 China warns Wuhan lawyers not to sue the government
🇺🇳 China will soon select the U.N. monitor on free speech🇨🇳 China arrests whistleblowers & makes them disappear
🇺🇳 China to select U.N. monitor on enforced disappearances— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 6, 2020
GOOD: UN rights experts urge Hong Kong authorities to drop criminal prosecution of 15 pro-democracy activists who participated in peaceful protests last year. https://t.co/eM1vrS2qaV pic.twitter.com/d3EoDTuQM9
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) May 15, 2020
Thousands were also by Neuer’s impassioned testimony before the U.N. Human Rights Council calling out China’s repression of 1 million Uighur Muslims currently detained in “re-education” camps, as well as his appearance on Sky News where Neuer lambasted China as one of the world’s most “gross and systematic abusers of human rights.”
UN Watch tweets were liked and shared by opinion leaders and journalists, including world chess champion and Human Rights Foundation Chairman Garry Kasparov; Deutsche Welle TV’s Melissa Chan; chief political correspondent for Canada’s Global News David Akin, and Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.N. Sergiy Kyslytsya.
1 million Uighur Muslims greet #EidAlFitr locked up in "re-education" camps in China, as #COVID19 continues to spread in prisons.
When I spoke out at the United Nations for these victims, the Chinese representatives started banging on the table and tried to stop me. They failed. pic.twitter.com/yoMXJU3zfj
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 24, 2020
UN Watch's @HillelNeuer on @SkyNewsAust: Given China is one of the world’s most “gross and systematic abusers of human rights,” it is now essentially gaining a “free pass” after joining the U.N. Human Rights Council panel. “There will be zero resolutions on China,” said Neuer. https://t.co/N81BSyOtLx pic.twitter.com/j2EpiUTzuJ
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) May 10, 2020
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A UN Watch tweet revealing that the United Nations is planning to elect Turkey’s representative as the next President of its General Assembly was shared by rights activists and thought leaders including, Cuban dissident and graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado, Venezuelan diplomat and former President of the U.N. Security Council Diego Arria; Canadian Senator Leo Housakos; Turkish fashion designer and activist Barbaros Sansal; Spanish politician and former EU Member of Parliament Beatriz Becerra; President of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Clifford May; and TechCrunch editor Eric Rosser Eldon.
No joke:
🇹🇷 Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan purged 18,000 civil servants, fired 4,000 judges, tortures journalists, occupies northern Syria & denies water to its Kurds.
🇺🇳 The U.N. is planning to elect Turkey's representative as next President of its General Assembly. pic.twitter.com/8hQD3T4HLH
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 18, 2020
