The system of UN special rapporteurs, whom the UN considers independent “experts” and whom it is loath to criticize, is “completely broken,” according to Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
UN Watch released a 104-page report, titled “From Watchdogs to Idealogues,” in which it details the ways that 13 of the 59 special rapporteurs have politicized their work and subverted the cause for human rights.
The rapporteurs, whom the UN Human Rights Council selects, are supposed to monitor and report neutrally on human rights issues globally. But, Neuer’s reports says, the rapporteurs call their autonomy into question.
“You can’t call yourself independent when you’re being funded specifically by a government — putting aside the dictatorships — or any entity,” Neuer said. “That has an influence on your work.”
“Beyond the fact that they’re funded by dictators, they’re also being funded by organizations with far-left agendas, like George Soros’ Open Society Institute, giving millions of dollars to many of the rapporteurs.”
The special rapporteurs, who do not receive a UN salary, are given almost boundless freedom to express their views, with almost no accountability or avenue for removal for cause, according to the report.
The UN Secretary General has reportedly called Francesca Albanese “a horrible person” within earshot of reporters, but UN spokesmensay that the global body cannot fire Albanese, despite her frequent anti-Semitic statements, or tell her what to do, since she is an “independent expert” who falls outside the normal bureaucratic structure.
“It does the contrary. It’s so detrimental to the system,” Neuer said.
“We’re calling for a ban on social media” for special rapporteurs, “just the way that people in various governmental positions, military officers and all kinds of other positions just don’t do it.”
‘Funders dictating an agenda’
The report details what it says are other problematic rapporteurs, including Alena Douhan, adviser on unilateral coercive measures, and Ben Saul, adviser on counterterrorism.
According to UN documents, Douhan took $900,000 from China, a serial human rights abuser, as well as Russia and Qatar.
Saul accepted $150,000 from China and avoids mentioning the Uighur population, which Beijing says it keeps in camps for counterterror purposes, according to Neuer.
Neuer is calling on Western states to stop giving funding to special rapporteurs.
Irene Khan, special rapporteur for freedom of expression, is also chastised in the report for being “either muted or completely silent” on many hot-button free speech issues, Neuer said.
She had relatively little to say on Iran’s months-long internet shutdown and on Turkey’s prior shutdowns, and on other abuses of free expression by Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, according to Neuer.
“We documented how these things don’t grab her attention, but she did an entire visit to Germany, where the whole point was to defend pro-Palestinian protesters that are allegedly being censored by Germany,” he said.
Irene Khan issued a report to the UN General Assembly on purported efforts by Western states to censor pro-Palestinian protesters.
Neuer called this an obsession.
The UN Watch report cites a European Centre for Law and Justice study, which suggests that donor support affects what rapporteurs prioritize.
“You literally have funders dictating an agenda and what the UN is going to report about,” Neuer said.
Reem Alsalem, special adviser on violence against women, is described in the report as a vehement denier of documented sexual assaults that Hamas committed on Oct. 7.
Michael Fakhri, special rapporteur on the right to food, has used his mandate to promote the claim that Israel caused a famine in Gaza,.
The report also addresses what it says are biases of eight other special rapporteurs:
• Paul Gaviria Betancur (internally displaced persons)
• Ashwini K.P. (racism)
• George Katrougalos (equitable international order)
• Mary Lawler (human rights defenders),
• Tlaleng Mofokeng (right to health)
• Balakrishnan Rajagopal (housing)
• Gina Romero (peaceful assembly) and
• Margaret Satterthwaite (independence of judges).
Where special rapporteurs used to produce annual or twice-yearly reports, and where each such adviser was intended to be a “serious scholar and fact checker, doing rigorous work, and producing a report using the guidance that they have, with a code of conduct,” the UN advisers now post incessantly and recklessly on social media, according to Neuer.
“They’re obliged to do fact-checking, to verify, to corroborate, to check with the member state,” he said.
“The idea is that the final document is not some flimsy rumor that someone picked up on the floor but the way a serious journalist has done their best in the limited time they have to achieve the truth.”
‘System has gone rogue’
The UN Watch report also decries politicization of the process by which rapporteurs are selected.
Katrougalos, the UN adviser on equitable international order and a former Greek foreign minister, has long been aligned with the Chinese government, and he accepted $100,000 from China last year, according to UN documents.
That same year, Katrougalos promoted Chinese President Xi Jinping’s book and his vision for China at an event in Athens.
“There’s no accounting whatsoever,” Neuer said.
With the global body enjoying immunity and the entire organization defending and promoting the rapporteurs, even a small measure of accountability, such as the code of conduct, is ignored, according to Neuer.
“The system has gone rogue,” he said.
“The anti-Western alliance, whether it’s Cuba, Pakistan, China — they have the power to decide on appointments, and then these rapporteurs get legitimized by Western groups, like Amnesty International and others that work hand in glove with the rapporteurs.
“You get this toxic alliance between these two forces, where they agree that if you’re willing to attack the West, America, Israel, especially capitalism, you’ll make it through the system,” Neuer said.
“The dictatorships will be very happy to recommend you.”
