Dozens of people who protested United Nations partnerships with technology companies that do business with Israel were removed from U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
Last week, the United Nations hosted its annual AI for Good Summit in Geneva, where it recognized executives from Amazon, Google, Microsoft and IBM, all of which are companies U.N. “independent adviser” Francesca Albanese has accused of complicity in Israeli “genocide” in Gaza. (Washington recently sanctioned Albanese, who has a long history of antisemitic remarks.)
Some 70 protesters, including current and former Google employees, bearing signs stating “no tech for apartheid,” tried to enter U.N. headquarters. After security blocked them, the protesters gathered outside the building.
Organizers of the protest said that protesters with Arabic on their clothing were profiled. Arabic is one of six official U.N. languages.
“We expect all of the private sector to work and to engage in work based on the principles of the charter, the universal declaration of human rights,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, said at a press conference on Tuesday when asked about the protest.
“We expect all our vendors that we may have to behave in a way that meets the code of conduct that is specified in our procurement,” he added.
Asked if the United Nations will continue to work with the companies being protested, Dujarric said, “That’s what I’ll say for the time being.”
Last year, Guterres met with a group of anti-Israel protesters weeks after they snuck into the sensitive U.N. Security Council chamber, with some recording political speeches before security finally interceded and escorted them out.
Dujarric was asked at the time if it is customary for his boss to grant a meeting to groups that hold unauthorized protests on U.N. grounds.
“It was not a reward,” Dujarric said, adding that Guterres briefed the group “on his view of the situation and his advocacy for a humanitarian ceasefire.”
