Caroline Hunt-Matthes, a former investigator with the United Nations, is speaking out after a grueling 15-year legal struggle—the longest in UN history—triggered by her efforts to expose sexual exploitation and institutional misconduct. Her case sheds light on a persistent culture of cover-ups, lack of accountability, and the high personal cost of speaking truth to power within one of the world’s most influential international bodies.
Her trials began after uncovering the sexual exploitation of a refugee in Sri Lanka. Over the course of her investigation into the abuse, Hunt-Matthes witnessed firsthand the “propensity to cover up as opposed to being transparent.” As a result of her tenacity, she faced pushback from superiors, eventually culminating in her termination while on medical leave. “Nobody should have to be under protection for expressing concern about a workplace issue,” said Hunt-Matthes.
Hunt-Matthes now calls for increased transparency and accountability in the UN, especially in her old workplace, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Inspector General’s Office. Although whistleblowing is protected under numerous UN Conventions, Hunt-Matthes says that internal UN whistleblowers lack adequate defenses. According to her, “It’s easier to get rid of the whistleblower than to fix the system.”
Despite international conventions meant to protect whistleblowers, Hunt-Matthes argues that internal safeguards are inadequate in protecting whistleblowers. Her new book, We...
The government on Thursday clarified that claims circulating on social media over the Indian LCA Tejas Mk1 suffering an oil leakage at the Dubai Airshow 2025 are false. The Press Information Burea...