Approximately a quarter of OHCHR's roughly 2,000 staff — about 500 employees — call on leadership to publicly declare Israel's Gaza offensive a genocide and to urge member states to suspend arms sales to Israel. They assert that available evidence and assessments by UN-appointed experts and legal and international humanitarian law professionals meet the legal threshold for genocide. They argue that arms sales, transfers and related logistical or financial support to Israeli authorities constitute breaches of international law. Signatories criticize current messaging as limited to condemnation and demand clear steps and legal consequences for officials and businesses. UN officials state only an international court can formally declare genocide.
OHCHR employees told the Guardian they were frustrated with the failure of agency's head, Volker Turk, to move beyond condemning Israel. The messaging has been the same for almost two years. Criticising Israel is not enough. He needs to be saying exactly what steps member states need to take to meet their obligations to prevent genocide and very firmly pointing out the legal consequences for leaders, officials and private businesses if they don't, said one staff member who signed the letter.
The letter, seen by the Guardian, says that based on the available evidence and authoritative assessments by the UN-appointed experts, as well as legal and [international humanitarian law] professionals, the legal threshold [for genocide] has been met. [We] therefore urge the Office to state the legal characterization publicly. The OHCHR has a strong legal and moral responsibility to denounce acts of genocide and that failing to denounce an unfolding genocide undermines the credibility of the UN and the human rights system itself, the letter adds.
Collection
[
|
...
]