By Breshna Rani / GICJ
On 28 March, Association Ma’onah for Human Rights and Immigration, International-Lawyers.Org, Law for Palestine, International Organization For the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) hosted a side event at the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) featuring Dr Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967. The event was also joined by Ms. Rula Shadeed, a human rights defender coming to Geneva from Palestine. Both speakers addressed the devastation brought by Israel’s war on Gaza, specifically in regard to its terrible impact on women and children.
About the speakers
Special Rapporteur Albanese is a renowned scholar in the fields of International Law and Forced Displacement, and an expert on the legal and humanitarian situation in Palestine. She has also worked for a decade as a human rights expert for the United Nations, including at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees. For her part, Ms Shadeed has over 15 years of experience in the field of human rights, refugee law, mobilization and advocacy, and who serves as Co-Director of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (PIPD). The event was moderated by Mr Gautier Boyrie, a Senior Human Rights Officer at GICJ.
Speaker Interventions
Ms. Rula Shadeed
Ms. Shadeed’s intervention began with an acknowledgement of the tragic deaths of 14,880 children and 9,340 women in this genocide at the time of the event, followed by a minute of silence in their honor. She further noted that around 32,000 people in Gaza lost their lives at the hands of the occupation forces – the equivalent of an entire city disappearing in Switzerland – in addition 7,000 more lost under the rubble, whose fate remains unknown. In the context of Israel’s man-made famine, which has forced tens of thousands of children to the point of starvation, Ms. Shadeed noted that “social death is the first step to a group’s physical annihilation.” In her view, the focus on women in particular is crucial at this critical moment: “She is the carrier of the family, she is where a family starts, so no wonder in any colonisation situation, women and children are being attacked because of their reproduction, and their role in mothering the Palestinian children”.
Ms. Shadeed highlighted the horrific stories of over 80 women who have suffered sexual violence and abuse while in Israeli military prisons. The deplorable extent of these violations has brought her and many others to question Western feminism and its purpose. In 2016, the Western feminist movement took to the streets in protest of Donald Trump’s misogynistic remarks and stances, yet today, when Palestinian women suffer from extreme levels of abuse and gender-based violence, that same movement has said nothing. The deadly silence of all parties, organisations and states at this time is an unfortunate but true reflection of what they stand for, and what they have not been willing to do and sacrifice to create a much better world.
Ms. Francesca Albanese
Special Rapporteur Albanese furthered the discussion by speaking of her experiences working with children in Gaza. She noted that, when viewing videos of children from around the world expressing their desires and expectations of the future, those children often expressed material wishes, including wanting an iPhone or trying certain foods. The same could not be said for the children of Gaza. Their dreams were largely concerned with their immediate survival – to stay alive amidst the violence, or to have their siblings, friends and family back – a dark reminder of the tragedies they have experienced in recent months. Such statements were unfortunately not shocking to Ms. Albanese, who has witnessed firsthand the brutality of the occupation’s onslaught. They should, however, move the global community to ensure that these children can wish for more from life than mere survival, a low standard that thus far has not been met either.
Ms. Albanese noted that the ICJ’s standard of proof in discerning the genocidal intent of a state is very high, and that no state has been held fully accountable to it to date. She explained that to ascertain it, one needs to look at the patterns of conduct of the assailing state, as well as their scale. While fellow practitioners of international law have widely agreed that the drastic actions of the State of Israel amount to war crimes, Ms. Albanese pushed the international community to consider their evidently genocidal nature as well. Not only are the violations systematic, they are also committed with clear genocidal intent at multiple levels of the Israeli military apparatus. This goes beyond the mere failure to prevent genocide, an obligation of all state parties signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention including Israel. As she noted in the conclusion of her opening remarks, “genocide should have been prevented, but it has now been committed”.
In recent months, Ms. Albanese has faced increasingly hateful and vitriolic criticism from those who would prefer to see her findings never brought to the international community’s attention. Her mandate, which UN member states created and must support, is to investigate and report on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories. She has done exactly that, bringing to light, as an independent expert, the atrocities suffered by the Palestinian people at the hands of their occupiers. And yet, in spite of the extensive evidence she has compiled and presented to the world, many have continued to unjustly denounce her work, her position, and even her personal character. It is crucial in times such as these to stand behind those fighting for justice for the Palestinian people, including when they are faced with hateful remarks and even threats. GICJ and its partner NGOs, unequivocally supports the work of the Special Rapporteur, as well as all human rights defenders calling for the fulfillment of the basic rights of Palestinians, to which they are entitled under international law and international humanitarian law. It is in the spirit of this aim that we hosted this side event, and that we will continue to uplift the voices of the Palestinian people.
Questions from the Audience
Following the interventions, members of the audience posed questions to the speakers. The first came from Dr. Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, former UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, and current Professor of international law and history at the Geneva School of Diplomacy. He asked the following:
“The diagnosis has been clear, and you have more than justified and substantiated it. But what measures can the international community take now, such as breaking all trade and diplomatic relations with Israel?”
Ms. Shadeed answered first, noting the importance of an immediate and permanent ceasefire, in addition to a military embargo on Israel. Shortly before this event, the UN Security Council announced on 25 March 2024 a temporary ceasefire for the remainder of the month of Ramadan, which has now passed. She also called for the international community to apply pressure on Israel to release the roughly 10,000 political prisoners who have been detained since 7 October. Ms. Shadeed further highlighted as appropriate measures the cancellation of all free trade agreements with Israel, states’ official support of South Africa’s case against Israel, assistance to the ICC in gathering evidence for its investigation, and the use of judicial mechanisms within countries to hold the perpetrators of war crimes accountable. Finally, she called Israel’s membership in international events to be deactivated or revoked, for instance with Eurovision, FIFA and the upcoming 2024 Olympics.
Special Rapporteur Albanese also contributed to answering this question. She clearly noted that the delay in international judicial mechanisms, particularly the ICC, should not deter states from taking independent action, and that domestic courts are viable and effective avenues to initiate proceedings especially against many Israelis who hold double nationalities that are known to be working with the Israeli military. She also stated that we must extend our support to the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, which contributed to the process of triggering the ICJ’s advisory opinion.
The second question came from a dual Palestinian and Swiss national, who was concerned about the Swiss government withdrawing its funding from NGOs. She asked the following:
“How do you both envision a just solution for Palestine 10 years from now? What is the most realistic and just solution for Palestine”.
According to Ms. Shadeed, “what is happening in Palestine has suddenly had an immediate effect on the liberties of Europeans”. Israel’s bans on people demonstrating, or using certain colours or slogans, should warrant concern across the Western world, and has direct implications for the health of people’s right to freedom of expression worldwide. Further, while she noted that she cannot speak on behalf of the Palestinian people in claiming their desired outcome, be it a one state, two state or even many state solution, what Ms. Shadeed cares about most is their self-determination. Palestinians have for the past 75 years been deprived of the healthy political life to which they are entitled. They should be granted their rights to hold elections and determine their own political structures, rights which the occupation has systematically denied them. In the next decade, Ms. Shadeed simply wants for Palestinians to control their own future, to be able to build their own identity in a political, economic and cultural context that suits their needs, and ultimately, to be happy.
Ms. Albanese, for her part, stated that during negotiations toward the two-state solution, Palestinians accepted the segregation of their people in their search for a peaceful resolution to their plight. And yet, Israel has continued to impose upon them a system of oppression that enshrines a kind of superiority of its citizens. Such a system is unacceptable. It should come as little surprise that resistance would arise from this condition. Ms. Albanese noted that the Palestinians have for decades pursued peaceful means of resistance, but having suffered violence and discrimination for so long, one should not have expected them to simply accept their oppression. Like any people, the Palestinians are entitled to the right of resistance under international law. The fact that certain acts committed in that process have been unlawful does not invalidate that right. In terms of what the future holds for them, it is important to underscore, that it is the international community’s responsibility not to speak on the Palestinian people’s behalf as to what state they deem acceptable. Rather, their voices must be uplifted through that process, in which the rights of everyone on the land must be accepted.
Conclusion
Prior to the session’s end, we were honoured to hear directly from Ms. Heba, a Palestinian refugee who recently reached Geneva after having been evacuated from the assault on Gaza through Egypt. She spoke of her severe injuries, and the fact that while in the hospital, she was forced to vacate the premises in a state of urgency by the occupation’s raid teams. For many kilometers she walked with a spinal injury, witnessing corpses lying all around her. Throughout this carnage she even witnessed soldiers laughing at the situation.
Ms. Heba expressed her disappointment in NGOs who claimed to provide support. She did not receive the basic necessities she and others in similar conditions required. For eight days she searched for water or milk for her daughter. At one point, due to the lack of available resources, she even resorted to drinking “dark liquid” while trying to save clean water for her child.
No person, especially children, should have to suffer the pain that the people of Gaza have experienced for years, particularly in the past six months. The pain of losing family, home, income, education, friends, and lastly, the pain of starvation. It is a moral failure of the international community to have allowed such conditions to arise.
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) applauds the work of the Special Rapporteur, and of all human rights defenders such as Ms. Shadeed, who have denounced the crimes of the occupation and sought to uplift the voice of the Palestinian people in these tragic times. We call on the international community to make all efforts to bring an end to the ongoing suffering, including passing a UN Security Council resolution demanding a permanent ceasefire, and compelling the occupying power, Israel, to comply with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) provisional measures, which it has repeatedly defied. We also call for an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people, which will only be realised when the illegal occupation of their homeland is brought to an end.
- Photo Gallery -
