UN Watch today called on the United Nations Security Council to reject Michelle Bachelet’s bid to become the next United Nations secretary-general, citing her four-year tenure as UN high commissioner for human rights during which she remained publicly silent on the mass detention of Uyghurs in China, the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, and Iran’s forced hijab laws.
“Under Bachelet’s tenure, the office tasked with defending human rights became an office that protected the world’s worst abusers,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “The next secretary-general must be someone willing to confront dictators, not shield them.”
UN Watch sent a letter directly to Bachelet, as well as to various UN Security Council members, including the U.S., UK, France, Denmark, Latvia, Greece, Panama, and Liberia, presenting 11 questions about her record and urging governments to demand answers before extending any support to her candidacy.
The letters draw on UN Watch’s September 2022 report, “Blind Eye to Dictatorships,” which documented that during Bachelet’s tenure, the UN human rights office applied grossly disproportionate attention to criticizing liberal democracies while giving a free pass to authoritarian regimes that systematically suppress dissent.
Bachelet is one of five candidates vying to succeed Secretary-General António Guterres, whose term ends December 31. The others are Rafael Grossi of Argentina, Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica, Macky Sall of Senegal, and María Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador. The Security Council is expected to recommend a candidate in the coming months, with the General Assembly formally appointing the next secretary-general before year’s end.
Among the questions UN Watch is demanding Bachelet answer before the Security Council vote:
- On Russia: Why did she fail to initiate a single statement on Russian political prisoners, including dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, and remain publicly silent on the arrest and attempted poisoning of Alexei Navalny until after his Feb. 2021 sentencing?
- On China: Why did she fail to initiate a single statement on the detention of more than one million Uyghurs in China until the final hour of her mandate, despite repeated appeals from UN Watch and widespread international concern?
- On Iran: Why did she fail to initiate a single statement on Iran’s forced hijab laws and systemic discrimination against women?
- On Venezuela: Why did she initiate more stand-alone criticisms of the United States than of Nicolás Maduro’s regime, despite extensive evidence of arbitrary detention, torture and repression in Venezuela documented by her own UN human rights office?
- On North Korea: Why did she initiate only one stand-alone criticism of North Korea, treating one of the world’s most severe human rights violators similarly to how she treated democratic Australia, Spain and the European Union?
- On Antisemitism: Why did she fail to initiate a single stand-alone statement following major antisemitic attacks, including the synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh and Poway and the hostage-taking at the synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, even as she publicly spoke out on other forms of racist violence?
“This system was created to defend victims of abuse,” Neuer said. “Before any government can consider supporting her candidacy, the world deserves clear answers.”
Pursuant to UN General Assembly resolution 79/327, the secretary-general must embody “the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity,” and the UN chief is expected to serve as “a spokesperson for the interests of the world’s peoples, in particular the poor and vulnerable among them.”
“A secretary-general must be willing to confront dictators when it matters most, not look away when the perpetrators are powerful,” Neuer said. “The United Nations cannot restore its credibility by elevating officials who repeatedly failed to speak out against major abuses in China, Iran, Russia and elsewhere. Before any government supports Bachelet’s candidacy, the world deserves clear answers about her record.”
ABOUT UN WATCH:
UN Watch is a Geneva-based non-governmental organization dedicated to holding the United Nations accountable to its founding principles of human rights, equality, and justice. Founded in 1993, UN Watch monitors UN institutions, exposes bias and misconduct, and advocates for reforms that strengthen the UN’s credibility and effectiveness. Through research, advocacy, and engagement at the UN, UN Watch works to ensure that universal human rights are upheld for all.
