| UN Volker Turk
Collaborated in Banning
Press Now He Blames Failures
on DC Staff Questions
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
UN GATE,
June 13 – How corrupt
and decrepit has the UN system
become under Antonio Guterres,
in this case due to Guterres?
Today's example is again from
the Office of the High
Commission for Human Rights,
to which Guterres appointed
his unqualified crony Volker
Turk more than two years ago.
From OHCHR
staff: Dear Mr Lee, The staff
in OHCHR is demanding the
resignation of High
Commissioner Volker Turk,
Guterres crony, deputy high
commissioner Nada Al Nashif,
corrupt chief of
administration Kim Taylor and
all the senior
management. Now to Turk:
you are creating
a Central Asia office in your
home country (which is in
Europe, not Central Asia) when
you already have one in
Bishkek. We also don’t
understand how OHCHR will be
closer to civil society in
Vienna when the principal
centres of the human rights
community are in Geneva and
New York. Further, UNICEF is
now downsizing its regional
offices in order to be “closer
to the beneficiaries”. There
is a strong likelihood that a
future OHCHR leader will do
the same.
Lack of
transparency and
accountability The criteria
for identification of posts to
relocate have not been
explained to the affected
staff members. Out of the many
staff members performing
similar or identical
functions, only some were
selected for relocation,
without any explanation of the
rationale behind the
selection. In some cases, the
selection of geographic
destinations 12 June
2025 does not appear to
be relevant to the functions
performed by the staff. It is
still unclear whether the
moves are taken for purely
financial reasons, whose
rationale is questionable, are
operationally justified or are
purely for symbolic and legacy
reasons. There were no prior
consultations with the
affected staff, and in some
instances, the relocations
appear inconsistent with their
professional responsibilities.
It remains unclear who
identified the posts, with
managers deflecting
responsibility and pointing to
one another. It is also
unclear why you are mainly
relocating junior to mid-level
staff rather than your senior
managers. Surely, leadership
should be by example.
Disregard of
personal compelling
circumstances and lack of
procedural clarity Under the
OE 2.0 process, staff were
repeatedly assured that posts,
not staff, would be relocated.
It was never clarified how the
two would be distinguished in
practice. Although the OE 2.0
process has been in its active
stage since at least February
2025, no compendium has been
developed to allow staff to
opt in or out of relocation.
Most vacancies remain frozen,
and suggestions to apply for
open positions do not seem
viable. The personal
circumstances of staff members
have been disregarded, leaving
them frustrated and under
stress, without adequate
support or consideration from
their managers. Yet the UN’s
own mobility policy does
consider this matter. No
mechanism has been established
to assess individual cases,
leaving staff uncertain about
whom to contact for support or
how to challenge the decisions
made by management. Staff
should not be forced to
explain sensitive matters to
their supervisors. Staff have
been told that they must move
within months. Yet UN 80 has
made clear that no moves
should take place before
summer 2026. There is no
rationale for rushing these
moves if the underlying issue
is a systemic one. Many staff
members reached out to HR for
support but received no
response. The lists have
already been finalized, while
HR remains without clear
guidance and continues to
await instructions on the
compendium and the definition
of ‘special constraints’ from
New York. This is the UN of
Guterres.
Turk as a staffer
on Guterres' 38th floor did
nothing when his boss Guterres
had the critical Press roughed
up and thrown out. There
has been no due process since,
not even a response to Guterres'
Melissa Fleming to a pro bono inquiry
for Inner City Press from the
law firm Quinn Emanuel. Some
human righters.
***
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