U.N. whistleblower Emma Reilly today accused Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay of being “complicit in the Uyghur genocide,” alleging that under her leadership the U.N. human rights office handed dissidents’ names to China and ignored warnings about the danger to them and their families.
UN Watch condemned the award, recalling that Pillay herself declined to attend the 2010 Nobel ceremony honoring imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. The organization also cited her silence during Iran’s 2009 crackdown on protesters, her failure to speak out against many of the world’s most repressive regimes, and her record of bias against Israel and defense of antisemitic remarks.
“The Nobel committee owes an explanation to the dissidents whose names were handed to China,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “Emma Reilly has raised devastating allegations of complicity in genocide against the woman they have chosen to honor. Where was the scrutiny? Where was the concern for the victims and their families?”
“In 2010, the Nobel committee honored Liu Xiaobo for standing up to China’s dictatorship. Pillay refused to attend his ceremony. Now the committee gives her the same prize. What message does that send to Chinese dissidents risking their lives for freedom?”
“Pillay’s failure to confront powerful dictatorships was a pattern,” Neuer continued. “Our study found silence on abuses in 34 countries rated ‘Not Free,’ including Cuba, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. When Iran’s regime beat and arrested protesters in 2009, she took three months to comment. Victims needed a champion willing to challenge their oppressors.”
“The Nobel Peace Prize should reward moral courage. Honoring Pillay while these allegations remain unanswered betrays the people human rights institutions exist to protect. The committee must explain how it reconciles this award with her record, and answer the whistleblower whose warnings the U.N. ignored.”
UN Watch has documented Navi Pillay’s troubling record, including:
• Pillay’s Complicity With Genocide: Emma Reilly, a human rights lawyer who worked under Navi Pillay, alleges that under her leadership the U.N. human rights office handed dissidents’ names to China, and ignored her warnings about the danger to them and their families. “Unfortunately, the winner is an absolute disgrace,” said Emma Reilly,” and accused her of being “quite literally complicit in the Uyghur genocide. Reilly added: “If she didn’t have diplomatic immunity, three victims would have sued her. How much has China subverted human rights? Well, Navi Pillay just got the Nobel Peace Prize. The same Navi Pillay who was High Commissioner when I first reported the UN handing names of dissidents to China. Her response? Bring her a different chair, she was uncomfortable. Navi Pillay oversaw the communication of names of over 50 dissidents to China. Families of the dissidents testified in court. They testified, under oath, to their family members being intimidated, arbitrarily detained, tortured, disappeared, and even killed in concentration camps. This is an absolute travesty of ‘peace.’ All staffers [of Pillay] who directly handed over names were promoted… I was fired for speaking up.”
• Report: Navi Pillay Turned Blind Eye to World’s Worst Abusers: In an major study published in 2011 while Navi Pillay served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Watch examined Pillay’s record in the first two years she served as UN human rights chief. UN Watch found that Pillay turned a blind eye to most of the world’s worst abusers, being completely silent on abuses in Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Belarus, Syria, and 27 other countries rated “Not Free” by Freedom House. During the first two years of her tenure, Pillay issued 21 statements on countries in the Middle East and North Africa. However, of these, 9 were on Israel, the only democracy in the region.
• Nobel Hypocrisy-Pillay Boycotted Ceremony for Liu Xiaobo: When jailed human rights hero Liu Xiaobo was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, Foreign Policy reported that Pillay gave in to Chinese pressure and declined an invitation to attend the Oslo ceremony, falsely claiming that she needed to be at a low-level Geneva event - one to which she didn’t bother to show in other years. Then she added to the dissembling by saying she was never invited.
• 40 NGOs Urge U.N. Rights Chief to Attend Oslo Nobel Ceremony and Show Support for Chinese Dissident: An international coalition of 40 human rights and non-governmental organizations appealed today to U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay to reverse her decision to skip Friday’s Nobel award ceremony for imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. “We urge the High Commissioner to go to Oslo, attend the award ceremony, and convene a press conference that will spotlight the plight of the 1.3 billion Chinese citizens who are systematically denied the basic guarantees of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” said the statement.
• Ignored Iran: Ms. Pillay failed to issue any public statement in response to the well-documented violence against demonstrators in Iran following the June 2009 presidential elections. Her first comment appeared three months after initial reports and video evidence of government-backed paramilitary forces arbitrarily arresting, beating and killing protestors were released. Her welcome call on the Iranian government to “release those detained for peaceful protest, to investigate reports of their ill-treatment, and to ensure respect for human rights” was made only as part of her traditional opening speech at the UN Human Rights Council session in September 2009. She did not give a press conference and chose not to issue a dedicated statement on the matter.
