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Pressure mounts on UN high commissioner after staff letter calls for genocide acknowledgement
This letter was transmitted from staff members of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to the high commissioner, Volker Turk, in Geneva.
The letter says, “the High Commissioner for Human Rights has a strong legal and moral responsibility to denounce acts of genocide, failing to denounce an unfolding genocide undermines the credibility of the UN and the human rights system itself.”
We’re being told that about 515 staff members of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights globally have signed this letter. If true, that would be about a quarter of the global staff from this office.
This is part of a growing movement, if you will, within the UN: Staff members urging the UN as a body to call what’s taking place in Gaza a genocide. So, this is all part of that, that we’ve been seeing building momentum in the last few weeks and months.
UN chief says ‘catastrophe’ in Gaza ‘result of deliberate decisions that defy basic humanity’
Guterres has slammed Israel for failing to meet its humanitarian obligations in Gaza, where famine is “no longer a looming possibility” but “a present-day catastrophe”.
“People are dying from hunger,” he stressed. “Families are being torn apart by displacement and despair. Pregnant women are facing unimaginable risks. And the systems that sustain life – food, water, healthcare – have been systematically dismantled.”
“These are the facts on the ground,” he added. “And they are the result of deliberate decisions that defy basic humanity.”
He said Israel must immediately cooperate with the UN and other agencies trying to get aid into Gaza.
“Day after day, our efforts have been blocked, delayed and denied,” he said. “This is unacceptable.”
Guterres says West Bank developments ‘profoundly alarming’
The UN secretary-general has also addressed the situation in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have carried out a series of intensive raids in recent days, including in Ramallah and Nablus.
“In the West Bank, the situation is also profoundly alarming,” said Guterres. “Military operations, settler violence, demolitions and discriminatory policies are driving displacement and deepening vulnerability. The relentless expansion of settlements is fracturing communities and cutting off access to vital resources.”
He also condemned the Israeli government’s plan to construct thousands of new settlement units in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank, saying it would split the territory in two, posing “an existential threat to the two-state solution”.
“I repeat: The Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” said Guterres. “Israel must cease such actions and comply with its obligations.”
UN chief repeats appeal for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza, says ‘no more excuses’
Concluding his remarks, Guterres says “there is no military solution” to the bloodshed in Gaza and repeats his call for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire, unfettered humanitarian access across Gaza, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”.
“Starvation of the civilian population must never be used as a method of warfare. Civilians must be protected, humanitarian access unimpeded,” he said. “No more excuses, no more obstacles, no more lies.”
