UN says Special Rapporteurs are independent, not ‘out of control’ after Guterres interview

UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric clarified on Friday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did not state that UN special rapporteurs are "out of control," but rather that they are independent actors outside the Secretariat's control. This statement responded to a Jerusalem Post report claiming Guterres admitted some rapporteurs were "totally out of control" regarding their views on Israel in a Financial Times interview. Dujarric explained that Guterres was referring to the process of their work, not its content, stating, "What he said in the interview... is that he can't speak for the entirety of the UN system. Many in the UN structure are independent of the Secretariat and therefore totally out of the Secretariat's control… out of the Secretary-General's control." Dujarric also affirmed that the UN Secretary-General's office "defend[s] their right to speak" due to their independence. Additionally, Guterres denied any institutional UN bias against Israel, asserting, "I totally refuse the idea of bias."