Christopher Robert Paul Gunness (born 1959) is the former chief spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). He is currently the Director of the Myanmar Accountability Project.

Chris Gunness
Born1959
Trinidad, British West Indies
Alma materArdingly College, Oxford University
Organization(s)UNRWA, 2007-2019 Myanmar Accountability Project, 2019-Present

Early life

Gunness was born in 1959 in what was then the Crown Colony of Trinidad, part of the British West Indies. He was educated in England, initially at Ardingly College, before gaining a scholarship to Oxford University in 1979.[1]

BBC

He joined the BBC as a graduate trainee in 1982. During his 23-year career in broadcasting, he covered all the following roles: producer, studio manager, reporter, correspondent and anchor.[2]

UNSCO

In 2005, Gunness left the BBC to join the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO), which was created following the signing of the Oslo Accords. He was a member of a UN mission mandated by the UN to try and halt the Lebanon war in July 2006.

UNRWA

In 2007, he was appointed Spokesman and Director of Strategic Communications at UNRWA.

In 2014, during the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, he made several media appearances.

On 27 July 2014 Gunness was interviewed by David Gregory on Meet the Press;[3] Gregory was criticized for asking Gunness to comment on unverified video footage that Gunness was not able to see.[4][5][6]

On 30 July 2014, following a live TV interview from his office in Jerusalem with al Jazeera-Arabic Gunness broke down in tears discussing the shelling of the UNRWA schools in Gaza, which resulted in the death of 15 people.[7][8][9][10]

In 2014, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Ron Prosor, called for Gunness’s suspension, accusing Gunness of “an ongoing pattern of anti-Israel bias"; Gunness responded by saying: “We guard our neutrality jealously, and we have a plethora of measures that we take to guard our neutrality."[11] This exchange took place against the backdrop of caches of rockets having been discovered at three separate UNRWA schools, and accusations by the Israeli government that UNRWA had turned over one cache of rockets to Hamas; Gunness called these allegations unsubstantiated.[11][12]

On December 4, 2014, in response to the Jerusalem Post's publication of a piece by Palestinian activist Bassem Eid, Gunness tweeted "boycott the JPost! Don't read their lies!"; in response, the U.S. State Department issued a statement underscoring the importance that UNRWA "uphold its stated policy of neutrality."[13] Through a spokesperson, Gunness clarified that "he was not calling for a boycott against any media outlet but instead was making his objections to a single article."[13]

Consulting & Myanmar Advocacy

In 2019, Gunness left the U.N.; he founded the Myanmar Accountability Project, MAP, in 2021, and also runs the consultancy Tiresias Communications.[14] In 2021, Gunness advocated on behalf of Kyaw Zwar Minn, Myanmar's former ambassador to the UK, as means of undermining the legitimacy of the junta that seized power in a coup d'état earlier that year.[15] In September, 2021, MAP assisted in producing a legal opinion regarding which ambassador would be officially credentialed to represent Myanmar at the United Nations.[16][17]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.pressreader.com/uk/london-evening-standard-west-end-final-b/20090127/281861524390249. Retrieved 30 December 2016 – via PressReader. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/2933337.st%5B%5D,
  3. ↑ Full Meet the Press interview with UN relief official Chris Gunness, retrieved 30 December 2016
  4. ↑ David Gregory Backtracks After Being Corrected On Gaza | HuffPost
  5. ↑ "David Gregory is really bad at his job, today's edition: "Meet the Press" host's strange half-apology for dreadful Gaza questioning". 29 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Why Firing David Gregory Won’t Change ‘Meet the Press’ | The Nation
  7. ↑ UN Official Chris Gunness Breaks Down On Air After School Bombing | HuffPost
  8. ↑ Video: UN spokesman breaks down talking about Gaza child deaths – Telegraph
  9. ↑ U.N. Spokesman Breaks Down Crying on TV Discussing Gaza Attacks | Vanity Fair
  10. ↑ A U.N. Spokesperson Just Broke Down While Describing The Killing In Gaza On Al Jazeera
  11. 1 2 McCoy, Terrence (1 August 2014). "The controversial U.N. agency that found rockets in its Gaza schools". The Washington Post.
  12. ↑ Zion, Ilan Ben. "Rockets found in UNRWA school, for third time". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  13. 1 2 "US calls on UNRWA to 'uphold neutrality' after call to boycott 'Post'". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  14. ↑ "Our Team - Myanmar Accountability Project". 21 February 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  15. ↑ "Myanmar embassy row could be used as UK test case against junta". The Guardian. 4 May 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  16. ↑ Gladstone, Rick (11 September 2021). "Quandary at U.N.: Who Speaks for Myanmar and Afghanistan?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  17. ↑ "Myanmar's junta vies with critic of coup for seat on UN assembly". the Guardian. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
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