{"id":303010,"date":"2024-10-31T11:33:50","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T15:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=303010"},"modified":"2024-11-01T15:11:58","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T19:11:58","slug":"ceirpp-419th-meeting-press-release-31oct24","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/ceirpp-419th-meeting-press-release-31oct24\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It Is Important to Call a Genocide a Genocide,\u2019 Consider Suspending Israel\u2019s Credential as UN Member State, Experts Tell Palestinian Rights Committee – Press release"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Recording of the briefing on UN Web TV<\/a><\/p>\n

31 October 2024<\/p>\n

419th Meeting (AM)<\/p>\n

It is important to call a genocide a genocide,\u00a0UN experts told\u00a0the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People today as they called on all States to examine their relationships and avoid being complicit in this crime being committed by Israel on the Palestinian people in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go to a doctor because you have cancer and you are diagnosed with fever, you have a big problem \u2014 it’s the same with the people who are being genocided,\u201d said Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory Occupied Since 1967<\/strong>, during a briefing on the international legal responsibilities for preventing genocide, holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable, and for ending the unlawful occupation of Palestine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Describing herself as \u201ca reluctant chronicler of genocide,\u201d Ms.\u00a0Albanese said the international community must recognize what is happening in Gaza as a genocide and \u201cunderstand the bigger design behind what’s happening in Palestine today\u201d. It is not simply war crimes and crimes against humanity that the Palestinians are experiencing \u2014 \u201cthey have experienced those through their entire life,\u201d she said, but the current situation is different.<\/p>\n

Under the fog of war, Israel has accelerated the forced displacement of the Palestinians that began decades ago, but \u201cwhat’s happening today is much more severe because of the technology, the weaponry and the impunity\u201d, she added.\u00a0 It is time to consider suspending Israel\u2019s credential as a Member State. Acknowledging that this is a sensitive topic, she said: \u201cNone of you really has clean hands when it comes to human rights,\u201d but no other country has maintained an unlawful occupation violating decades of UN resolutions as Israel has done, she said.<\/p>\n

Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health<\/strong>, said the Israeli leadership\u2019s promise last year to destroy Gaza has been fulfilled. \u00a0\u201cThe Strip now is a wasteland of rubble and human remains\u201d where survivors struggle to hold on to life and bodies are decomposing in the ruins of what used to be clinics and hospitals. \u00a0Some 560\u00a0attacks have been reported on health facilities, which face shortages of power, medical supplies and personnel \u2014 only 36\u00a0hospitals remain, and they are partially functioning. \u00a0Accusing Israel and its allies of \u201cknowingly and intentionally imposing famine and dehydration\u201d, she warned that these practices will stunt an entire generation.<\/p>\n

Highlighting the urgency of psychological support, she said the prolonged violence has created a vast need for this and has also made it unavailable. \u00a0She reported arrests and detentions of health-care workers on duty, with some allegedly showing signs of torture. \u00a0\u201cThe destruction of health systems created by this genocide is incompatible with [\u2026] the right to physical and mental health,\u201d she asserted. To the Palestinians, she said, \u201cI am ashamed and deeply sorry that the multilateral world has failed you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also addressing the Committee was Chris Sidoti, the Commissioner of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel<\/strong>, who noted that when journalists ask him to describe what is happening, he says, \u201cI am just speechless.\u201d\u00a0 Even \u201ccold-hearted, hard-shelled diplomats\u201d have told him how overwhelmed and sad they are, he said. Citing the Commission\u2019s\u00a0October 2022 report<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, he said it concluded that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory had become unlawful and recommended that the General Assembly refer the situation to the International Court of Justice.\u00a0 \u201cTo my shock, the Assembly acted on it almost immediately,\u201d he said, also noting the Court\u2019s opinion, issued in July\u00a02024, that Israel\u2019s occupation was unlawful and must be ended immediately.<\/p>\n

He said the Commission also has an accountability mandate, which provides information to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on a monthly basis.\u00a0 \u201cWe collect the information, we verify it, we form conclusions as to the significance of the information in relation to international crimes and we provide it to the Prosecutor,\u201d he said, adding that the Commission also provided information to the Government of South Africa in its case under the Genocide Convention before the International Court of Justice. \u00a0He regretted that neither these efforts nor Council resolutions prevented a single death in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Anisha Patel, Governing Council Member and Head of Content and Discourse Department, Law for Palestine<\/strong>, said Israel’s settler colonial genocidal assault against the Palestinian people in Gaza is only the most violent manifestation of the 76-year-long Nakba inflicted upon the Palestinian people.\u00a0 \u201cWe are all too familiar with the haunting pleas from Palestinian journalists who are being brutally targeted as we speak for broadcasting their own destruction in real time,\u201d she said, noting that the first 11\u00a0pages of the 649-page list of identified matters released by Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry in September were names of Palestinian children who had not yet reached the age of one. \u00a0\u201cBut you all already know this,\u201d she said, adding that the international community has ample documentation of Palestinian children \u201cbeing blown to smithereens by 2,000-pound bombs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Outlining the legal consequences and responsibilities for third States for failing to prevent and punish the genocide, she said the International Court of Justice affirmed that Member States can also be found complicit if they aid and abet Israel\u2019s actions.\u00a0 \u201cThe most basic ask\u201d is a complete embargo on the selling and transfer of arms, munitions and related equipment, she said, adding that this obligation arises not only from the Court\u2019s advisory opinion but also from the Genocide Convention.\u00a0 The obligation of non-assistance also concerns areas of economic, diplomatic, cultural and academic relations. \u00a0Third States are obliged to cease all financial, trade, investment and economic relations with Israel which support its unlawful occupation and apartheid.<\/p>\n

Also speaking today was Diana Buttu, Member of the Board of Commissioners \u2014 Independent Commission for Human Rights of Palestine<\/strong>, who noted that it will take more than 18\u00a0years just to remove the rubble in Gaza.\u00a0 While almost 10\u00a0per cent of the Strip\u2019s population has been killed, injured, or gone missing, 80\u00a0per\u00a0cent has been subjected to some type of evacuation, with Israel treating Palestinians \u201clike human pinballs\u201d.<\/p>\n

She highlighted \u201cthe axis of genocide\u201d, which includes Israel, United States and some European States that are pushing for its continuation, supporting it or funding it, and denounced the international community\u2019s failure to speak in one voice.\u00a0 She drew attention to the cases of Israeli soldiers uploading the evidence of their crimes on social media, adding that no one has been prosecuted for these crimes. \u00a0\u201cImagine what it is like to live in a society where this is considered to be okay,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

In the ensuing discussion, delegates voiced profound frustration over the worsening of the war in Gaza and reiterated the call for immediate ceasefire, accountability and a long-term resolution to the Palestinian question. While some delegates called for a stop to the \u201ccollective murder\u201d of Palestinians and for their support without hypocrisy and double standards, others underscored the importance of adherence to international law, including UN resolutions and opinions of the International Court of Justice. \u00a0They also expressed solidarity with all UN entities and mechanisms that are working on Palestine-related issues, and urged for allocation of sufficient resources to buttress their mandates.<\/p>\n

The representative of Malta<\/strong> took the floor to counter the assertion that the Security Council has not saved a single life. \u00a0She emphasized that during her country\u2019s term on the Council, it worked on four resolutions, one of which facilitated a seven-day pause that resulted in \u201clives being saved\u201d. \u00a0Expressing regret that this pause did not lead to a ceasefire, she underscored that the only effective way to resolve the conflict is through diplomacy.\u00a0 A speaker from the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement highlighted the complicity of third States, institutions and corporations, adding that funding, trading and investing in Israel is tantamount to normalizing genocide.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the meeting, Cheikh Niang (Senegal), Committee Chair<\/strong>, commended the work of\u00a0UN experts in investigating and documenting what has been happening.\u00a0 They have sifted through vast amounts of documents and testimonies, gathered evidence and separated facts from misinformation.\u00a0 Their \u201cefforts are vital, not only for telling the story of Gaza, but more importantly for ensuring accountability\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Feda Abdelhady-Nasser, Deputy Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations<\/strong>, took the floor at the beginning and end of the meeting.\u00a0 She said that Palestinians in Gaza have endured \u201cno chapter darker\u201d than the past year, with tens of thousands of civilian deaths, 902\u00a0families entirely wiped out, thousands crushed to death under rubble and 2\u00a0million forcibly displaced and hunted down by the Israeli occupation forces. \u00a0With northern Gaza turning into the epicenter of the onslaught, those left are facing starvation and must choose between ethnic cleansing and submission to colonial domination.<\/p>\n

Israel is also \u201cwaging an open war on the UN\u201d, she added as she questioned its continued UN membership.\u00a0 Despite committing these crimes, it has been shielded by the United States\u2019 veto in the Security Council. \u00a0She also highlighted its punitive measures against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), while at the same time, acknowledged the outpouring of solidarity from around the world. \u00a0\u201cThe days have never been darker, but the prospects for justice have never been greater.\u201d \u00a0Do not forsake the Palestinian people, do not take their resilience for granted, \u201cdo not normalize genocide, do not become numb\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Recording of the briefing on UN Web TV 31 October 2024 419th Meeting (AM) It is important to call a genocide a genocide,\u00a0UN experts told\u00a0the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People today as they called on all States to examine their relationships and avoid being complicit in this […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2377,1329,2805],"document-source":[6815,1753,6831,6729,5161,2025],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[6956,1769,1773,6966,1829,2265,2033,6950,6837,2209,2005,6790,2533,1741,6870,6975,1805,1749],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-303010","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-multimedia","document-category-press-release","document-category-video","document-source-commission-of-inquiry-on-the-occupied-palestinian-territory","document-source-ceirpp","document-source-independent-commission-for-human-rights","document-source-law-for-palestine","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-right-to-health","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-opt","document-subject-apartheid","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-arms-control-and-regional-security-issues","document-subject-atrocities","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-ceasefire","document-subject-children","document-subject-colonialism","document-subject-ethnic-cleansing","document-subject-expulsions-and-deportations","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-genocide","document-subject-health","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-hunger","document-subject-israels-illegal-occupation","document-subject-occupation","document-subject-palestine-question","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/303010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/303010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303044,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/303010\/revisions\/303044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=303010"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=303010"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=303010"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=303010"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=303010"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=303010"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=303010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}