The correspondence linked below relates to the case of United Nations whistleblower Emma Reilly. Ms. Reilly, a human rights officer, disclosed to senior officials in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) that she had been instructed to provide the names of Chinese human rights defenders (HRDs) to the Chinese Government ahead of Human Rights Council meetings. Ms. Reilly believed that such exposure would endanger Chinese human rights dissidents by exposing them to detention before they could leave China. As a whistleblower, Ms. Reilly has been waiting for 19 months for a decision from the Ethics Offices on her request for protection from retaliation. She has followed every regulation regarding disclosure and subjected herself to one compromised review after another.
David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, wrote a letter to the Secretary General on August 9, 2017 about the case and received a response from the Secretary General’s Chief of Staff, Maria Viotti, on October 5, 2017. These documents have just been made public on the Human Rights Council website.
Click here for GAP’s response to the UN/OHCHR.