China accused of bribing UN officials to serve its interests

It was also revealed that both the reports of WHO and the United Nations Environment Programme on the origins of Covid-19 were altered to reduce any references that point to a laboratory leak possibility.

Evidence submitted by former employee of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and whistleblower Emma Reilly has revealed that the Chinese government has been receiving "dangerous favours" from the OHCHR.

The evidence presents that China is making efforts to "instrumentalise the UN" to serve its national interest, as per the report.

Moreover, the report alleges that during the negotiation on sustainable development goals, that went on for two years, Beijing even paid bribes to two General Assembly Presidents who not only oversaw the process but also had a "significant influence" over the final texts that were put forth.

As per China's condition to the UN, money provided must not be spent in any countries that share diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the whistleblower claimed.

“The Chief of the Human Rights Council Branch in OHCHR, a French national, was secretly providing the PRC with advance information on which human rights activists planned to attend the Human Rights Council," she said in her written evidence.

It was also revealed that both the reports of WHO and the United Nations Environment Programme on the origins of Covid were altered to reduce any references that point to the possibility of a laboratory leak.

A submission from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) that has been included in the evidence claims that China is trying to “shape the multilateral system to align more with a state-centric, authoritarian world view."

The evidence also disclosed that the Chief of the Human Rights Council Branch in OHCHR had been secretly providing inside information to China on which human rights activists planned to attend the Human Rights Council. It accused the UN officials of lying to other member states when they enquired about the UN policy of handing names to China without their knowledge.

“In cases where the PRC was provided with names of NGO delegates in advance by the UN Secretariat, the delegates have reported that family members were visited by Chinese police, forced to phone them to tell them to stop their advocacy, arbitrarily arrested, placed under house arrest for the period of the meeting, disappeared, sentenced to long prison terms without cause, tortured, or, as regards Uyghurs, put in concentration camps”.

Some of their family members even died in detention, the whistleblower revealed.

On April 16, the Foreign Affairs Committee held its first evidence session in this inquiry, hearing from whistleblower Reilly and other expert witnesses.