Tag: un

Michelle Bachelet, Who Helped Cover Up Uyghur Genocide, Visits China to Campaign for U.N. Chief

Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng on Wednesday, touring the country amid her campaign to become the next U.N. Secretary General.

Bachelet, a radical leftist, served as president of Chile before completing her term and taking over the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). She served two terms as president in the country, from 2006 to 2010 and, later, from 2014 to 2018. Her time leading the OHCHR spanned from 2018, shortly after the end of her time as president, through 2022, when she chose not to run for a second term amid global disgust and calls for her resignation for her poor handling of the Chinese genocide of Uyghurs and other Turkic people in the country.

Bachelet notably visited China in 2022 shortly before stepping down and, far from condemning the ongoing genocide, praised China’s human rights record and claimed that the concentration camps the Chinese Communist Party had been caught using to imprison as many as 3 million people were no longer functional.

Bachelet is one of five official candidates running to replace Antonio Guterres as the secretary-general of the United Nations. The other candidates are former General Assembly leader María Fernanda Espinosa, former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan, former Senegalese President Macky Sall, and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi. Bachelet initially enjoyed the endorsement of her country under leftist former President Gabriel Boric, but Chile withdrew its support after the inauguration of conservative current President José Antonio Kast.

Campaigning for the position is often less overt than a traditional political role, involving private meetings with the most powerful actors at the United Nations. Bachelet appears to have traveled to Beijing seeking support from China, though Chinese state media reports did not overtly describe her visit as a formal campaign stop.

Chinese government television networks published images of Bachelet receiving a warm welcome from Wang, the nation’s top diplomat.

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U.N. Atomic Energy Chief Rafael Grossi Blasts Agency for Irrelevance: ‘Absent’ from World Conflicts

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, lamented in remarks on Thursday that the United Nations, of which the IAEA is part, has been “absent” from the world’s greatest conflicts.

Grossi made the remarks during an event in London, within the context of his candidate to run the United Nations. The term of current Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expiring this year, prompting the somewhat convoluted and backdoor process of various successor candidates making their pitches to the body. First, the Security Council, the most powerful body of the U.N., nominates a candidate, whom the General Assembly then confirms. The United Nations has officially approved five candidates for secretary-general this year. Grossi’s closest competition is believed to be Michelle Bachelet, the socialist former president of Chile and apologist for the Uyghur genocide in China, along with Maria Fernanda Espinosa, the former president of the General Assembly.

Grossi has been on the front lines of two of the most high-profile conflicts in the world today: the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where the IAEA has advocated for the protection of various nuclear sites in the war theater; and the conflict between Iran and America. The IAEA, under Grossi’s leadership, condemned Iran for violating international law in 2025 for the first time in two decades, which led to the U.S. military taking action against three of Iran’s largest nuclear sites last year. Iran and America continue in conflict today under an ongoing ceasefire, and are reported to be negotiating a peace agreement that Washington insists must result in the long-term dissolution of any Iranian illicit nuclear development.

In his remarks on Thursday, Grossi mentioned these two conflicts, as well as ongoing civil war in Sudan and Israel’s conflicts with neighboring parties.

“Interstate war has returned after many years here in Europe but also in Africa and many other places,” he noted, according to the Emirati newspaper The National. “The UN is absent from the management or resolution of any of the conflicts I have just mentioned. It needn’t be so.”

“It’s not going to happen unless we do something differently,” he continued. “It is only going to happen when there is a conviction in leaders, in belligerent nations, that the participation of the U.N., and in particular the SG, is going to facilitate a better outcome than what they are having.”

Grossi added that he believed it was “possible” for the United Nations to be a relevant party in these conflicts because of his personal experience running the IAEA. He also reported lay the blame of the U.N.’s inability to act in a timely and impactful manner on the size of its bureaucracy, outsourcing jobs he said should belong to the secretary-general to a host of “special rapporteurs” and other officials. He suggested that he would shut down several special rapporteur offices if he was chosen to run the United Nations.

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Iran Appointed to UN Program for Women’s Rights, Disarmament, and Terrorism Prevention

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been nominated to the U.N. Committee for Program and Coordination, which shapes policy on women’s rights, human rights, disarmament, and terrorism prevention. The nomination was backed by ECOSOC members, including the UK, Spain, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, and Finland.

This is part of a broader pattern. In February 2026, an Iranian regime official took her seat as a full member of the UN Human Rights Council’s Advisory Committee, contributing to discussions on gender perspectives and gender-based violence, while Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister addressed the council’s high-level opening session.

Iran was previously removed from a comparable body in 2022, when ECOSOC voted 29 to 8 to remove it from the Commission on the Status of Women following its violent crackdown on protesters after the death of Mahsa Amini. It is now being nominated back onto similar bodies.

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Associated Press runs paid PR ads for Chinese telecom Huawei as CCP seeks to influence UN agency

The Associated Press is running paid public relations advertisements on X and on the wire service’s own website on behalf of Huawei as the blacklisted Chinese telecom behemoth and the CCP seek influence over a key United Nations tech agency.

The U.S. government has long pointed to the national security threat posed by Huawei and has sought to limit the firm’s spread inside the United States and around the world. At the same time, the AP took cash from the Chinese company to promote Huawei’s efforts to burnish its image as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seeks to influence the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and increase the penetration of Chinese telecoms and networks worldwide.

The paid tweet by the AP — sent on Mar. 12 and now boasting more than 75 million views — highlighted Huawei’s links to ITU and its efforts on the world stage, and a paid article from Huawei published by the AP promoted Huawei’s efforts in AI. The tweets are clearly marked as “Paid advertisement.”

“National Champion” firms

The U.S. National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence stated in 2021 that “national champion” firms such as Huawei help “lead development of AI technologies at home” and “advance state-directed priorities that feed military and security programs.”

“China is the most capable competitor in the AI space, and aims to displace the U.S. as the global AI leader by 2030,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed in March. “China is driving AI adoption at scale — both domestically and internationally — by using its sizable talent pool, extensive datasets, government funding, and burgeoning global partnerships.”

Michael Sobolik, a China expert and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Just the News that “the Associated Press claims to provide ‘news without an agenda,’ and says that its mission is ‘journalism, not profit margins.’ It’s hard to square those praise-worthy goals with taking money from a CCP-controlled company to boost its propaganda.”

“The AP isn’t alone in doing this either. It’s the latest in a number of American reporting outlets that willingly become propaganda conduits for Beijing,” Sobolik added. “There’s no First Amendment in China, but CCP-controlled companies can push their message in America for the right price.”

Neither Huawei nor the Associated Press responded to a request for comment from Just the News.

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Minnesota Sues Trump Administration Over ICE-Involved Shootings – Walz Says He’s Building Case with Leftist Nonprofits and the UN

The State of Minnesota has filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration in its ongoing attempt to investigate ICE and CBP agents who were involved in shootings during law enforcement activities.

The incidents include the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two crazed leftists who attacked ICE agents, and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a criminal illegal alien who was wounded while attacking ICE agents in northern Minneapolis in January.

Minnesota is suing for evidence and information on the shootings, for which the FBI previously denied state investigators access.

On Thursday, Tim Walz discussed the lawsuit on MSNow, revealing that he is working with the American Civil Liberties Union, pro-immigrant groups, and even the UN to build his case, while accusing the Trump Administration of human rights abuses.

He further trashed President Trump, stating that he will continue fighting for so-called justice until “the final days of this administration and beyond.”

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U.N. Passes Resolution Demanding Countries Linked to Slavery Pay Trillions in Reparations

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling on Britain and other countries involved in the transatlantic slave trade to enter talks on reparations.

Campaigners say potential payouts could run into the trillions of pounds.

The motion, introduced by Ghana on behalf of the African Union, describes the slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity.”

It calls for “good-faith dialogue on reparatory justice, including a full and formal apology, measures of restitution, compensation.”

The non-binding resolution passed 124 votes to 3. The United States, Israel, and Argentina voted against.

The U.K. abstained, alongside 52 other countries, including all European Union member states.

In supporting the resolution, member states s affirmed “the importance of addressing historical wrongs affecting Africans and people of African descent.

It also meant accepting that “claims for reparations represent a concrete step towards remedying historical wrongs.”

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Social Media Panic Lands Joseph Gordon-Levitt a U.N. Gig

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a new gig, but it’s not in Hollywood. On Tuesday, the actor was appointed as the United Nations’ (U.N.) first global advocate for human-centric digital governance. 

In this role, Gordon-Levitt will “strengthen public understanding of how digital technologies shape everyday life, rights and opportunities,” according to a U.N. press release. In other words, he will be one of the U.N.’s chief advocates for regulating social media platforms.

In a video explaining his jargon-filled title, Gordon-Levitt warned that social media is causing an “epidemic of mental health issues and loneliness,” and a “rise in polarization and extremism and authoritarianism.” He said “governments need to get in the game” and curb these “damaging side effects” from social media. 

This is not the first time Gordon-Levitt has advocated for crackdowns on online platforms. In February, Gordon-Levitt traveled to Capitol Hill, where he urged senators to pass the Sunset Section 230 Act. The bill, introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D–Ill.), would repeal Section 230—the federal law that limits platforms’ liability for third party speech—two years after the date of enactment. 

The “first step” in combatting the negative influence of Big Tech is to “sunset Section 230,” he said. “I want to see this thing pass 100 to zero. There should be nobody voting to give any more impunity to these tech companies, nobody.”

After receiving backlash for these comments, including from journalist Taylor Lorenz, Gordon-Levitt clarified that he didn’t want to completely scrap Section 230; he only wanted to reform it. 

During his speech on Capitol Hill, Gordon-Levitt invoked his authority as a concerned father of three to push for more online safety regulations. But emotional pleas do not always make for good policy. In fact, protecting children online has motivated more than a dozen bills in the House alone, many of which would infringe on free speech and privacy. 

One of these bills, the Reducing Exploitative Social Media Exposure for Teens (RESET) Act, would ban anyone under the age of 16 from creating or maintaining social media accounts. Another, the App Store Accountability Act, would require age verification for access to app stores and parental consent for users under 18. Most notably, the controversial Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) would require online platforms to enforce policies and procedures to “address” various “harms to minors.” Reason’s Elizabeth Nolan Brown notes that KOSA would compel platforms to “censor a huge array of content out of fear that the government might decide it contributed to some vague category of harm and then sue.”

What proponents of these bills often fail to recognize is the many benefits that social media can offer kids. According to a 2022 Pew Research Center poll among teenagers, just 9 percent said that social media had a mostly negative effect on their lives. Citing the upsides of friendships and connections, 32 percent said social media had a mostly positive effect on them. Another study found that disconnection was a greater threat to adolescents’ self-esteem than heavy social media use, challenging the narrative that social media causes isolation. 

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Over 3 million people forcibly displaced by US-Israeli war on Iran: UN

Over 3 million Iranians have been displaced by the ongoing US-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic, the Director of the Division of Emergency and Programme Support at UNHCR, Ayaki Ito, revealed on 12 March.

“Between 600,000 and 1 million Iranian households are now temporarily displaced inside Iran as a result of the ongoing conflict, according to preliminary assessments, representing up to 3.2 million people,”  Ito wrote in the statement.

He added that most of the internally displaced are fleeing Tehran and other major urban areas, and that the number of forcibly displaced “is likely to continue rising as hostilities persist, marking a worrying escalation in humanitarian needs.”

The statement added that refugee families hosted in the country, the majority of whom are Afghan, are particularly vulnerable due to their already “precarious situation” and “limited support networks,” with many now leaving affected areas as insecurity rises and access to essential services declines.

Ito said UNHCR is adjusting its response to the growing displacement, noting that the agency is expanding its operations in Iran through reception areas, helplines, and ongoing support services while working with national authorities and humanitarian partners to assess emerging needs as population movements increase.

He stressed the need to protect civilians and maintain humanitarian access, urging that borders remain open to those seeking safety in accordance with international obligations.

At least 1,300 Iranians have been killed since the US-Israeli war began, including at least 165 children killed in a double-tap strike on a girls’ school, as attacks hit civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and residential neighborhoods.

Israel’s aggression across West Asia has also triggered a refugee crisis on a smaller but proportionally more intense scale.

Constant Israeli attacks across Lebanon have displaced a staggering 14 percent of the country’s population – over 800,000 people – from the south and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

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UN Security Council Passes Iran War Resolution, Yet With No Mention Of US Or Israel

Many independent pundits have long complained of the emptiness of the United Nations as some kind of ‘moral authority’ – given it often claims to be just this. The vacuous nature of UN statements connected to war is on display once again as the Security Council (UNSC) issued a formal condemnation of the Iran war on Wednesday, but without mentioning either the United States or Israel at all.

For this reason, Iran quickly slammed the vote, also as Russia and China abstained. The passed resolution demands an end to Iranian attacks across the Gulf, and notably made zero reference to US or Israeli strikes on Iran.

It was tabled Bahrain and backed by 135 countries, and calls for “the immediate cessation of all attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan.”

It further condemns actions or threats by Iran “aimed at closing, obstructing, or otherwise interfering with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.”

The measure passed 13-0, and a second draft resolution was proposed by Moscow, which called on all sides to cease hostilities, however it failed to pass.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Walz stated: “Iran’s strategy of sowing chaos, of trying to hold their neighbours hostage, trying to shake the resolve of the region, has clearly backfired, as shown by this vote today.”

China’s UN envoy Fu Cong said the text “does not fully reflect the root cause and overall picture of the conflict in a balanced manner.”

The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, without warning, and while Iran was engaged in several rounds of nuclear talks with Trump envoys. 

Like the June war, the assault appears to have caught Tehran completely by surprise, and Iranians have condemned the unprovoked nature of the assault. 

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U.N. Committee Accuses Trump of ‘Racist Hate Speech’ and ‘Grave Human Rights Violations’ Over Immigration Crackdown

If you needed any more evidence that the United Nations (U.N.) should be defunded, here it is.

A U.N. panel has accused the Trump administration of “racist hate speech” and suggested the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration has led to “grave human rights violations.”

The criticism came in a new report released Wednesday by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which took direct aim at Trump and other political leaders over their rhetoric on immigration enforcement.

According to the report, statements by political leaders combined with stepped-up immigration enforcement have allegedly “sparked grave human rights violations.”

“Racist hate speech by political leaders, including the President, combined with intensified immigration crackdowns in the United States, notably near schools, hospitals, and faith-based institutions, has sparked grave human rights violations,” the committee said in a statement accompanying the report.

The panel also claimed it was “deeply disturbed by the growing use of derogatory and dehumanizing language” about illegal aliens.

“Portraying them as criminals or as a burden, by politicians and influential public figures at the highest level, particularly the President … may incite racial discrimination and hate crimes,” the report said.

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