On 10 March, the spokesperson of the United Nations Secretary General Stéphane Dujarric commented on the dismissal of UNICEF’s Representative to Armenia Marianne Clark-Hattingh, describing the espionage allegations on her as “baseless,” reported arka.am. 

“The spying allegations against her are baseless, and I would defend her strongly,” he stated. What I can tell you and what my colleagues of UNICEF have told me is that UNICEF and the Government of Armenia have agreed that Marianne ClarkHattingh will complete her assignment as UNICEF Representative in Armenia this month, and she’ll be redeployed to another duty station. She is a highly qualified, extremely experienced and committed development professional, who has previously served with UNICEF at Headquarters, as well as being the Representative in Malaysia and other posts in places such as Somalia, Guinea, Benin and Madagascar. UNICEF has been working for the children in Armenia since 1993 and has had a close and effective partnership with the Government,” Dujarric stated.

The Armenian government terminated the mandate of Marianne Clark-Hattingh as UNICEF’s Representative to Armenia under the argument that Clark-Hattingh’s implemented mandate in Armenia and her method of work was problematic and did not promote cooperation. However, the Mediaport Telegram channel reported that Clark-Hattingh was declared persona non-grata by the government of Armenia for spying in favour of Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom (Caucasus Watch reported).