European Group Attacked for Criticizing Dark Money Influence on UN Human Rights
NEW YORK, September 17 (C-Fam) Over the summer the European Center for Law and Justice issued a report charging that the UN human rights agenda was driven by leftwing foundations.
Almost immediately, UN bureaucrats closed ranks to defend their own from accusations that they promote LGBT rights and abortion under the influence of dark money.
The UN experts and their supporters from non-governmental organizations, funded by the same private foundations, accused the European Center of Law and Justice of being “unprofessional”, “unethical” and “imprecise.” This came during a listening session in Geneva on September 3.
None of the UN experts or their supporters denied the existence of private funding streams and the influence it exerts on the UN human rights system, either in their written criticism or their interventions on September 3. Nor did they deny the failure of UN experts to account for at least $11 million in unaccounted for funds. The UN experts and their supporters attacked the European Center for Law and Justice instead, insisting repeatedly that there was nothing to see.
Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, called the report a “spurious attack on the integrity of special procedures.” She is the Board Chair of the Open Society Foundations Women Program. Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Peaceful Assembly and Association, tried to smear the report as a “personal attack.”
Non-governmental organizations that echoed these same talking points at the September 3 meeting included abortion and LGBT organizations the Center for Reproductive Rights, Amnesty international, the International Commission of Jurists, and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, all with ties to the Open Society Foundation.
Other independent non-governmental organizations were surprised by the viciousness of the critiques against the report. The Institute for NGO Research urged the special rapporteurs to “address the substance and not just attack the messenger.”
A representative of the Centre for Health Science and Law said the recommendations of the report to require UN experts to report their sources of funding transparently should be heeded. “If it’s not problematic there should be no difficulty in reporting them,” he emphasized. He also criticized the UN secretariat for not allowing the European Center for Law and Justice to respond to criticism during the session.
The report of the European Center for Law and Justice, available in English, describes in detail how a network of private funding streams for the UN human rights system is used to promote discreet political agendas, including abortion and LGBT rights, as reported in the Friday Fax. The report has caused quite a stir among the diplomatic community, and several UN experts and delegations have expressed their support for the European Center for Law and Justice’s efforts to increase transparency and accountability, according to the organization’s website.
View online at: https://c-fam.org/friday_fax/european-group-attacked-for-criticizing-dark-money-influence-on-un-human-rights/
© 2024 C-Fam (Center for Family & Human Rights).
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
www.c-fam.org