The UN Human Rights Council is now in session, but they’ve rigged the speakers lists so that the independent group UN Watch and its director Hillel Neuer cannot take the floor.

When Iran was debated on July 5, 2023, the Council gave the floor to numerous dictatorships, and to three "non-governmental" organizations" which are in fact front groups for Tehran, all of whom praised the regime.

Yet UN Watch, which is the voice of dissidents and victims, is being censored.

When the Council debated Iran in November, Mr. Neuer's intervention was the most widely-viewed of the entire session. So the dictators want to silence him.

And we know who’s helping them. According to testimony by a whistleblower from inside the UN, it’s the Council’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Eric Tistounet, who gives orders to manipulate lists to prevent UN Watch from speaking, and to specifically target Hillel Neuer.

Leaked emails reveal that Eric Tistounet instructed his employees to anonymously post false and defamatory information about Neuer online. He wrote: “Question is: how to put it on YouTube without leaving a trace. It would be nice if someone (obviously from outside the UN, and as was suggested recently, from an internet café for instance) could place it discreetly next to his videos concerning the Council…”

This top UNHRC official also plotted with his staff on ways to arrange with UN Security to try and bar Neuer from entering the Council.

Eric Tistounet's conduct against Hillel Neuer clearly and unambiguously amount to misconduct, and violates the UN prohibition that staff “shall not discriminate against any individual or otherwise abuse the power and authority vested in them.”

Accordingly, in October, UN Watch filed a Legal Complaint urging UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to suspend Tistounet for his corrupt and abusive actions.

Nine months later, however, and the UN has done nothing. Eric Tistounet feels he has impunity, so he’s doing it again.

The US, UK, EU member states and others need to speak out. It's time for the UN to suspend Tistounet, launch a full investigation his misconduct, abuse and discrimination against UN Watch and Hillel Neuer, and to restore their legal right to speak at the United Nations.