Image: Hans Braxmeier / Pixabay
Ms. Emma Reilly, a fired UN whistleblower, was recently interviewed by Maajid Nawaz on his UK-based LBC talk show.
“I want to be clear! I am not the victim here”, says Reilly. “The victims are the people whose names were handed over [to China] and their family members, who were tortured by the Chinese Government as a result.”
“Shortly after I appeared on your show [a year ago on LBC]”, says Reilly, “I was placed under investigation” The UN does not accuse me of lying. I am accused of telling the truth in public” says Reilly. “According to the UN, me revealing a UN policy harms the reputation of the UN. So rather than looking at why that would have a negative impact, and the fact that complicity in genocide might be a bad idea, the UN decided that its approach is going to be to shut me up by whatever means necessary.”
“What was your formal position at the UN?”, Maajid asks.
“I was a human rights officer.” Reilly replies, “My job was literally to try to stop human rights abuses. I consider genocide to be one of the worst human rights abuses. I was trying to stop the UN from being complacent in that. Instead of doing anything about the policy, anything to correct the policy, anything to investigate the policy, anything to stop handing out these names, the UN decided to go on an attack mode against me” Reilly explained. “The UN has tried various things to shut me up. They informally approached my lawyer and offered me a large amount of money if I’d sign a disclosure agreement.”
“The UN had one meeting this year about Uyghurs, the first it has ever had was held on the 12th of May this year. I was preparing to participate remotely and I had registered my participation and planned to take the floor. Five minutes into the meeting my doorbell rang. Armed Swiss police were at my door. They had been sent by the UN to make sure that I would not speak in that meeting. This is the kind of organization you are dealing with.”
“It’s called swatting. If you want to silence someone, you pretend that there is an emergency at their home. Persuading the police, that I wasn’t in imminent danger, takes time. By the time I finished doing that, the meeting was over and I’d not spoken.”
“It was the officer of the High Commissioner for Human rights in Geneva, that sent the police. The police told me. When they saw, that I wasn’t some kind of danger to myself, they could see that. They were shocked. They told me that it was the UN that had told them, that I was in imminent grave danger. There is no coincidence, that this happens five minutes into the only meeting that has ever happened about Uyghurs at the UN. That was in May. I lost my job this week.
The truth here is very clear: The UN is handing dissidents to the Chinese government including UK citizens. Their family members in China have suffered consequences.”