BERLIN: US intelligence spied on talks German Chancellor Angela Merkel held with the UN chief and key European leaders, a German newspaper reported Tuesday citing classified documents released by WikiLeaks.
The US National Security Agency (NSA), which drew fire for tapping Merkel’s mobile phone, also gathered information on a 2008 conversation about climate change she held with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily said.
In the exchange ahead of the Copenhagen climate summit, Merkel said the world expected the EU to take a leading role on the issue, while Ban praised Merkel’s personal engagement on tackling climate change, the report said.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in an online statement that “today we showed that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s private meetings over how to save the planet from climate change were bugged by a country intent on protecting its largest oil companies.”
German-US relations were badly strained after fugitive US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 revealed widespread US foreign surveillance, including tapping Merkel’s mobile phone.
Issues surrounding such surveillance are hotly debated in Germany, a country with raw memories of state snooping under fascist and communist dictatorships.
Wikileaks also released new documents on a 2011 meeting Merkel held with then French president Nicolas Sarkozy and then Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
In the meeting Merkel and Sarkozy pressured Berlusconi to reduce public debt and strengthen Italy’s banking sector, reported the Sueddeutsche.
The meeting was tense and unfriendly, according to a Berlusconi adviser, who the daily said may have been the target through whom the NSA obtained the information.
Another document showed the NSA listened in on talks between Berlusconi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Netanyahu asked Berlusconi to help him improve relations with Washington that were strained by plans for Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem.
WikiLeaks, founded by Australian Assange in 2006, has infuriated the United States by releasing some 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and 250,000 diplomatic cables.
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US surveillance of Merkel wider than thought: WikiLeaks
US surveillance of Merkel wider than thought: WikiLeaks
UN rights chief appeals for $400 million as crises mount and funding shrinks
- The UN office is appealing for $100 million less than last year, after a significant scale back of its work in some areas
- Volker Turk’s office undertook less than half the number of human rights monitoring missions compared to 2024
GENEVA: UN human rights chief Volker Turk appealed for $400 million on Thursday to address mounting human rights needs in countries such as Sudan and Myanmar, after donor funding cuts drastically reduced the work of his office and left it in “survival mode.”
The UN office is appealing for $100 million less than last year, after a significant scale back of its work in some areas due to a fall in contributions from countries including the US and Europe.
“We are currently in survival mode, delivering under strain,” Turk told delegates in a speech in Geneva, urging countries to step up support.
In the last year, Turk’s office raised alarm about human rights violations in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine, and Myanmar, among others.
However, due to slashes in funding, Turk’s office undertook less than half the number of human rights monitoring missions compared to 2024, and reduced its presence in 17 countries, he said. Last year it received $90 million less in funding than it needed, which resulted in 300 job cuts, directly impacting the office’s work, Turk said in December.
“We cannot afford a human rights system in crisis,” he stated.
Turk listed examples of the impacts of cuts, noting the Myanmar program was cut by more than 60 percent in the last year, limiting its ability to gather evidence.
A UN probe into possible war crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is also struggling to become fully operational due to limited funding, while work to prevent gender-based violence and protect the rights of LGBTIQ+ people globally has been cut up to 75 percent, the office said.
“This means more hate speech and attacks, and fewer laws to stop them,” Turk stated.
The UN human rights office is responsible for investigating rights violations. Its work contributes to UN Security Council deliberations and is widely used by international courts, according to the office.
The UN office is appealing for $100 million less than last year, after a significant scale back of its work in some areas due to a fall in contributions from countries including the US and Europe.
“We are currently in survival mode, delivering under strain,” Turk told delegates in a speech in Geneva, urging countries to step up support.
In the last year, Turk’s office raised alarm about human rights violations in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine, and Myanmar, among others.
However, due to slashes in funding, Turk’s office undertook less than half the number of human rights monitoring missions compared to 2024, and reduced its presence in 17 countries, he said. Last year it received $90 million less in funding than it needed, which resulted in 300 job cuts, directly impacting the office’s work, Turk said in December.
“We cannot afford a human rights system in crisis,” he stated.
Turk listed examples of the impacts of cuts, noting the Myanmar program was cut by more than 60 percent in the last year, limiting its ability to gather evidence.
A UN probe into possible war crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is also struggling to become fully operational due to limited funding, while work to prevent gender-based violence and protect the rights of LGBTIQ+ people globally has been cut up to 75 percent, the office said.
“This means more hate speech and attacks, and fewer laws to stop them,” Turk stated.
The UN human rights office is responsible for investigating rights violations. Its work contributes to UN Security Council deliberations and is widely used by international courts, according to the office.
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