The Guardian, “Jehovah's Witnesses link to UN queried — Sect accused of hypocrisy over association with organisation it has demonised”
“The United Nations is being asked to investigate why it has granted associate status to the Jehovah's Witnesses … The UN itself admitted yesterday that it was surprised that the sect, whose formal name is the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, had been accepted on its list of non-governmental organisations for the last 10 years.”
Quotes Paul Gillies (Witnesses' UK spokesman): 'We do not have hostile attitudes to governing bodies and if we are making representations on issues to the UN we will do so.' Also quotes 'a recent publication since the organisation obtained its recognition' as calling the UN 'a disgusting thing in the sight of God and his people' — that exact phrase could not be found in a WOL search (see risk register).
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Provenance and verification note for The Guardian, Jehovah's Witnesses link to UN queried — Sect accused of hypocrisy over association with organisation it has demonised
Confidence note. Fetched the live theguardian.com article via curl (WebFetch to theguardian.com is blocked in this environment) and read the full text.
Scan provenance. Newspaper scan hosted by jwfacts.com (not opened; text verified from theguardian.com)
Corroborated by. src-un-2004-0304-hoeffel-dpi-letter, src-guardian-2001-1015-hypocrite-abandon-secret-link
Notes. Timestamp on page: Mon 8 Oct 2001 23.42 BST. Language ('sect', 'cult') is the newspaper's, not to be adopted.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-guardian-2001-1008-jw-link-to-un-queried