UN Human Rights Council cuts off video statement criticizing officials

the United Nations Human Rights Council The UN Human Rights Committee abruptly cut off a video statement after the speaker began criticizing several UN officials, including an official whom the Trump administration had sanctioned. The video message was broadcast during a United Nations session in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday morning.

Touro Institute for Human Rights and Holocaust Director and President of Human Rights Voices Anne Baevsky called out several UN officials in her letter, including UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who is under US sanctions.

Minister of State Marco Rubio It announced sanctions on Albanese on July 9, 2025, saying she had “shamelessly incited anti-Semitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West.”

“This bias has been evident throughout her career, including recommending that the ICC issue, without legitimate basis, arrest warrants targeting the Israeli Prime Minister.” Benjamin Netanyahu “And former Defense Minister Yoav Galant,” Rubio added.

In this composite image, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in the left panel, and UN Special Rapporteur on the territories of Palestine Francesca Albanese speaks at the United Nations in the right panel. (Getty Images)

“I was the only U.N.-accredited American NGO with a speaking period — and I wasn’t even allowed to complete 90 seconds of my allotted time,” Bayevsky told Fox News Digital. “Freedom of expression does not exist in the so-called UN Human Rights Council.”

Bayevski noted the irony of the Council cutting her video in what was said to be an “interactive dialogue,” an event during which experts are allowed to speak to the Council on human rights issues.

“I was interrupted after naming Francesca Albanese, Navi Pillay and Chris Sidoti for covering up the use of rape by Palestinians as a weapon of war and trafficking in blatant anti-Semitism,” Bayevsky told Fox News Digital. “I named the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, who faces disturbing allegations of sexual assault but remains unaccountable almost two years later. These are the people and facts that the United Nations wants to protect and hide.”

“It is infuriating that I am being silenced and targeted for criticism based on naming names,” she said.

Baevski’s statement was cut short when she accused Albanese, as well as Navi Pillay, former head of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry into the occupied Palestinian territories and Chris Sidoti, commissioner of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry into the occupied Palestinian territories. She also criticized International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan, who faces rape charges. Khan has rejected the allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

Had her video message been played in full, Bayevsky would have continued to criticize Türk’s latest report for not demanding accountability for the atrocities committed in Homs on October 7, 2023.

When the video was cut, the head of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Siddharto Reza Suryodiboro, described Bayevski’s comments as “insulting, insulting and inflammatory” and said they were “unacceptable.”

“The language used by the speaker cannot be tolerated because it exceeds the limits of tolerance and respect within the framework of the Council, which we all uphold in this hall,” Soryodeboro said.

UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, February 26, 2025. (Denis Balibous/Reuters)

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In response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, HRC press officer Pascal Sime said the council has well-established rules about what it considers acceptable language.

“The provisions regarding the form and language of interventions in the Human Rights Council are well-established practices that have been in place throughout the Council’s existence and are used by all Council presidents when it comes to ensuring the respect, tolerance and inherent dignity in discussing human rights issues,” Sim told Fox News Digital.

When asked if the video had been pre-reviewed, Sim said it had been evaluated for length and audio quality to allow for interpretation, but speakers were ultimately “responsible for the content of their statement.”

“The video statement issued by the NGO Touro Law and the Institute for Human Rights and the Holocaust was boycotted when it was deemed that the language exceeded the limits of tolerance and respect within the Council framework and could not be tolerated,” Sim said.

“As the President made clear at the time, all speakers must remain within the appropriate framework and terminology used in the work of the Council, something that is well known to speakers who routinely participate in Council proceedings. Following this ruling, none of the Council member states have objected to it,” Sim added.

Flag Alley at the European headquarters of the United Nations during the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, September 11, 2023. (/Denis Balibus/archive photo/Reuters)

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While Bayevsky’s statement was cut short, other statements accusing Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing were allowed to be read and read in full.

This is not the first time Bayevsky has been boycotted. Exactly a year ago, on February 27, 2025, her video cut off when she mentioned the fate of Ariel and Kfir Pebas. The then head of the UN Human Rights Council, Jörg Lauber, stopped the video and declared that Baevski had used inappropriate language.

“The world now knows that Palestinian savages killed 9-month-old baby Kfir,” Bayevsky began his speech, and Lauber almost immediately interrupted him.

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“Sorry, I have to interrupt,” Lauber said suddenly as Bayefsky’s video paused. Lauber briefly objected to the “language” used in the video, but then allowed the matter to continue. After a few more seconds, the video shut down completely. Lauber stressed that “the language used by the speaker cannot be tolerated,” adding that it “clearly exceeds the limits of tolerance and respect.”

Yes pastr When the previous incident occurred, Bayefsky said she believed the whole thing was “stage-managed,” as the council had access to her video and transcript and knew what she was going to say.

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