UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Mary Lawlor, highlighted the impact of the ongoing war in Gaza on human rights.
Lawlor submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council on the challenges facing the human rights of children and adolescents.
“I decided to focus on children and young people who are human rights defenders. “Because they are the people who will carry the human rights movement in the future,” he said.
Specifically in Gaza, he believes that the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, committed war crimes on October 7 by killing and taking civilians hostage.
But Lawlor underscored that Israel’s response to the attack was disproportionate. The reason is that it is contrary to related international norms and standards.
“Israel’s attack on Gaza, in which 70% of the victims were women and children, is a war crime,” he said.
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Revealing that two female human rights defenders in Gaza who he met directly were killed in Israeli attacks, “We know that children are dying of hunger in Gaza. “We know there are serious problems in accessing hospitals and medical services,” Lawlor said.
He also highlighted the fact that Israel’s occupation of Palestine and blockade of Gaza is nothing new, stating that Tel Aviv’s goal of eliminating Hamas will not end the long-standing conflict.
“Barbarism in the form of total destruction of infrastructure and massacre of civilians makes me really despair whether these (Israeli attacks) will stop. “The only thing that could force this is the fact that the US, Germany and the UK, in particular, will no longer unilaterally support Israel at any stage,” Lawlor added.
Also read: Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip kills more children than conflicts in the world in 4 years
UNRWA Funding
Lawlor said stopping funding for UNRWA, the United Nations (UN) agency that takes care of Palestinian refugees, was crazy because only UNRWA serves Gaza residents, schools and hospitals in the Palestinian enclave.
“Investigations into the allegations against UNRWA are ongoing. “The desperate (Gaza) people must not be allowed to become victims of inter-state politics,” he said.
Israel accused the UNRWA staff of being involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
Also read: Israel Refuses UN Special Rapporteur to Enter Gaza
The situation in Gaza is currently being examined by the International Court of Justice, and Lawlor emphasized that the UN court will decide on the situation in Gaza.
“I don’t know whether (the decision) is genocide or not, but I say there is a risk of genocide (in Gaza),” he said.
He said countries such as the US, UK and the European Union, which have influence on Israel, have a very important role. They bear a great responsibility to stop Israel’s war in Gaza
If these countries choose to abstain or veto the resolution at the UN Security Council, “For me, that is unforgivable,” he stressed. (Anadolu/Z-3)
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