UN Should Denounce”: Emma Reilly, del OHCHR, sobre “Favores Especiales” a China

The whistle-blower has claimed that high-ranking UN officials, including Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and two former Presidents of the General Assembly, received bribes. Emma Reilly, speaking to NDTV, alleged that Chinese delegates reported instances of their family members being visited by Chinese police, arbitrarily arrested, placed under house arrest, sentenced to long prison terms without cause, tortured, or put in concentration camps, after China was provided with names. She also claimed that family members died in detention and in at least one case, a person on China’s list who attended a side event later returned and died in detention.

Ms. Reilly stated that she was fired for speaking out about the policy and emphasized that she was not accused of lying at any point. She alleged that the UN’s Human Rights office was secretly transmitting names of individuals about to speak out against the Chinese government, a practice which started in 2006 and is still ongoing according to the UN’s position in open court. Ms. Reilly’s whistle-blowing efforts have faced opposition due to an internal policy that prohibits employees from criticizing agency policy, even if it constitutes criminal complicity in torture or arbitrary detention.

She mentioned that a judge involved in her case found every claim she made about the UN handing over names to the Chinese government to be true but cited a rule prohibiting UN staff from criticizing the policy of the Secretary-General. Ms. Reilly’s account brings to light grave allegations against the UN, exposing the challenges faced by whistle-blowers and the complexities involved in holding powerful organizations accountable.