“We have independent rapporteurs, and we have many that are totally out of control, from the point of view of the Secretariat.”
Meanwhile, on the Gaza conflict, he said: “[The UN is] defending what is necessary for peace to come to the Middle East.
“There are two peoples, with a few million each one,” he said, “and there is no way one can destroy the other – so it's probably better to do everything possible to reconcile.”
And, asked about US President Trump’s Board of Peace initiative, Guterres said: “The truth is, if you look at what happens in Gaza, with the measures that were taken and you look at the progress that was made, let’s be honest, it is not for the UN to be worried. It is for others to be worried about what they are doing.”
In response to Guterres’ comments on the special rapporteurs, Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told the Jerusalem Post: “It happened on his watch!
“Now that Guterres is leaving office, admitting that many of the UN's human rights rapporteurs have gone ‘totally out of control’, it's time to ask who let them go out of control in the first place.”
Ambassador Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN (Getty Images)Getty Images
It comes after several UN representatives, particularly Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, have been accused of consistent anti-Israel bias.
In August 2022, months after taking on the role, Albanese tweeted: “Palestinians' right to resist is inherent to their right to exist as a people. An unlawful act of resistance does not make the resistance unlawful.”
UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese (Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
Then, six weeks after October 7, she used Nazi Germany as a reference point for the Israeli military response to Hamas, posting: “Fellow Europeans, Italians, Germans, after the Holocaust, we should instinctively know that genocide starts with dehumanising the other.
“If Israel's current attack [on] Palestinians doesn't prompt our strong reaction, the darkest page of our recent history has taught us nothing.”
Albanese’s comments and actions have led to condemnation from lawmakers and Jewish leaders around the world, and campaigns for her to be removed from her position.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said: “Guterres’ interview is a rare moment of candor.
“For years the UN has described its special rapporteurs as the ‘crown jewels‘ of the UN human rights system. Now the secretary general himself admits many of them are ‘totally out of control’.
“The most egregious example is Francesca Albanese, whom he… refused to rein in.
“This is not about independent experts but rather it is institutional failure – which fuels antisemitism and undermines the credibility of the entire United Nations human rights system.”
