The Foreign Affairs Committee publishes written evidence received as part of its inquiry into international relations in the multilateral system, it reports on its website.
In the evidence, Emma Reilly, a former employee of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), alleges that “the OHCHR renders special favors to the Chinese government that instrumentalizes them at the UN to serve its national interests.” Reilly accuses the UN of covering up such practices.
According to Ms. Reilly, “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the General Assembly who supervised and wielded substantial influence over the final texts presented to the Assembly.” Reilly contends that “Beijing enforces a covert conditionality across UN agencies, stipulating that they may not fund projects initiated by countries with diplomatic ties to Taiwan.”
She testifies how “the UN Secretariat provided Beijing with the names of NGO delegates in advance. Subsequently, the Chinese police visited their family members and forced the family to phone them to tell them to stop their advocacy. The family members risked arbitrarily arrested, house arrests, disappearances, prison sentences, torture, and in the case of Uyghurs, concentration camps.”
The Foreign Affairs Committee examines the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) and other bodies associated with the Foreign Office, including the British Council.
