Among the report’s most striking findings:

• Alena Douhan, the UN expert on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures, received $1.3 million in funding from China, Russia, and Qatar. Her official visits—including to Tehran, Beijing, Damascus, Doha, Caracas, and Harare—were conducted exclusively to support authoritarian regimes, not their victims.
• Ben Saul, the UN expert on counterterrorism, received $150,000 from China. Though he routinely castigates Western states, he has refused to issue any statements on China’s persecution of the Muslim Uyghurs, which Beijing justifies as “counterterrorism.”
• George Katrougalos, a former Greek foreign minister serving as the UN expert “on a democratic and equitable international order,” received $100,000 from China in 2025 — in the same year that he promoted Xi Jinping’s book, praising the Chinese dictator’s “vision of openness, development and dialogue” and “shared future for humanity.” In November 2025, Katrougalos traveled to Tehran and met with the Iranian regime’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi. The two lamented Israeli and American “crimes.”
• Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN expert on the right to health, said “Hamas are not terrorists,” and endorsed “the legitimacy of armed struggle.” She was found guilty of unprofessional conduct and fined by South Africa’s health authority for bringing the medical profession into disrepute, after she attacked UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer as “evil scum.”
• Michael Fakhri, the UN expert on the right to food, accuses Canada of committing genocide. Though Venezuela routinely bars UN monitors, Fakhri was specifically invited for a visit, which he used to lavish praise on the Maduro regime.
• Irene Khan, the UN expert on freedom of expression, turned a blind eye to gross and systematic violations of free speech by the regimes in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Myanmar, as well as internet shutdowns by Iran and Turkey, yet she devoted an entire UN General Assembly report to condemning Western states for allegedly repressing pro-Palestinian protests.
• Reem Alsalem, the UN expert on violence against women, has refused to acknowledge the October 7th massacre, denied Hamas sexual crimes against Israeli women, and amplified Hamas-aligned propaganda.
• Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN expert on housing, questions whether the U.S. is morally distinct from China, and says international law is an “imperial” system that “legitimates the exercise of raw power by the USA.” He routinely excoriates the U.S. while excusing or ignoring abuses by China, Russia, and Iran.

The report finds that the UN mandate-holders frequently rely on unverified NGO submissions and anonymous sources, weakening evidentiary standards. Despite these concerns, their reports continue to be cited as authoritative sources by international courts, governments, and media outlets.

UN Watch is calling for 12 concrete reforms, including:

• Creation of a coalition of democratic states to regularly assess, publicly rate, and hold UN experts accountable
• A complete ban on UN experts receiving earmarked funding from governments or other external entities
• An independent external mechanism to review, audit, and discipline mandate-holders
• External vetting of candidates by democracies, independent of the UN’s politicized selection process
• Strengthened mandatory evidentiary standards to end reliance on unverified and anonymous sources