Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information (Britain) — letter to the editor, “Letter to the Letters Editor, The Guardian”
“In 1991 one of our legal corporations registered with the United Nations as a NGO (non-governmental organization) for the sole purpose of getting access to the extensive library of the United Nations. … At the time of the initial application no signature was required on the form. Years later, unbeknown to the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, the United Nations published “Criteria for Association”, stipulating that affiliated NGO's are required to support the goals of the United Nations. After learning of the situation, our membership as NGO was withdrawn and the ID card of the writer was returned.”
The organisation's public explanation; says the Guardian articles 'substantially misrepresent' the background.
Scan of original (opens in new tab)
Provenance and verification note for Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information (Britain) — letter to the editor, Letter to the Letters Editor, The Guardian
Confidence note. Read the scan as an image; consistent with the internal 1 Nov 2001 letter and with Gillies' quoted statements in the Guardian. Whether The Guardian printed it was not checked.
Scan provenance. Scan hosted by jwfacts.com (discovery site)
Corroborated by. src-wt-2001-1101-branch-committee-letter-un, src-guardian-2001-1008-jw-link-to-un-queried
Notes. Compare with the UN's 2004 letter, which says applicants 'agreed to meet criteria for association' at the time of association in 1992, and the 2002 letter saying criteria were unchanged since 1991.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-wt-2001-1022-gillies-letter-to-guardian