by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
UN GATE, Sept 4 – How corrupt is today's UN under Antonio Guterres? Now with Guterres just back from meetings with Iran and Xi in China, his staff tell Inner City Press things have hit a new low about which his spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming refuse all Press questions. This is about inequitable cuts at UN ESCAP in Thailand:
Dear Matthew Russell Lee,
The plan for abolishment from UN-ESCAP is directed only at GS staff, while senior positions—P-5, D-1, D-2, and USG—remain untouched. The salary of a single one of these officials is equivalent to that of fifty or more local staff members. If justice truly mattered, it would be these high-level posts under review—not the livelihoods of ordinary staff.
Many of these officials are beyond retirement age, largely inactive in their offices, while their administrative assistants act more like personal aides or cooks than contributors to the Organization’s actual work. This is not about fairness—it is about selfishness and corruption. Guterres and his team have revealed themselves as weak, wicked, and corrupt. They cling to their privileges while sacrificing the most vulnerable staff, simply because they hold the power to decide. It is therefore no surprise that more and more staff are coming to agree that the UN has become useless, especially under the failed leadership of Guterres.
Guterres appears increasingly surrounded by what staff describe as “phone-call human resource advisors and legal officers.”
Martha Helena Lopez, the Secretary-General’s senior advisor on human resources, has become emblematic of this “don’t care” policy. Observers note she looks fatigued, more focused on retirement than on strengthening governance. Rather than engaging with tribunal rulings, she and her team have defaulted to what staff now mockingly call “phone-call directives,” issuing guidance over the phone without regard to established precedent or proper review. In New York, staff have started referring to her and her legal colleagues as “phone-call officers and advisors” because of their casual approach to matters of grave consequence.
Their advice to the Secretary-General effectively shields misconduct from judicial scrutiny, entrenches his culture of impunity.
Guterres, they say, should end censorship. Application was made on June 19, 2025. Watch this site.
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