Press Releases
Gaza 2020: Uninhabitable – Side Event & Short Film Screening at the UN Human Rights Council
PR/EN/240919/49
On 23 September, BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights joined Al-Haq, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), and Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HLRN) in a side event and short film screening at the ongoing 42nd session (9 September-27 September) of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The short film entitled “Gaza: Uninhabitable غزة: لا تصلح للحياة’’ was produced by Al-Haq and includes key recommendations to third party States and the UN on the urgent need to bring the unlawful Israeli siege of Gaza to an end. The aim is to shed light on and highlight the unlivable situation created by Israel’s prolonged siege in the occupied Gaza Strip.
Despite UNs continuous warnings since 2012, stating that Gaza will become inhabitable by 2020, and the UN Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the occupied Palestinian territory, calling on Israel to bring the 12-year closure of the Gaza Strip to an end effective immediately, no substantial measures have been taken either by UN member states or the rest of the international community. Third party States have an obligation under international law to pursue measures and to cooperate to bring the unlawful siege to an end. In addition, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has a mandate, pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 40/13, as adopted on 22 March 2019, to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Great Return March, which includes among others, to “[l]ift the blockade on Gaza with immediate effect” and calls upon all duty bearers to implement, including previous recommendations made by the UN rights and facts finding bodies.
The side event is under agenda item 7 “Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories”, which BADIL presented a written statement during the 41st session on the protection gap, with special regards to the recent attacks on UNRWA. To see two short videos explaining the protection gap in regards to UNRWA and the recent attacks, click here and here.
The short film entitled “Gaza: Uninhabitable غزة: لا تصلح للحياة’’ was produced by Al-Haq and includes key recommendations to third party States and the UN on the urgent need to bring the unlawful Israeli siege of Gaza to an end. The aim is to shed light on and highlight the unlivable situation created by Israel’s prolonged siege in the occupied Gaza Strip.
Despite UNs continuous warnings since 2012, stating that Gaza will become inhabitable by 2020, and the UN Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the occupied Palestinian territory, calling on Israel to bring the 12-year closure of the Gaza Strip to an end effective immediately, no substantial measures have been taken either by UN member states or the rest of the international community. Third party States have an obligation under international law to pursue measures and to cooperate to bring the unlawful siege to an end. In addition, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has a mandate, pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 40/13, as adopted on 22 March 2019, to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Great Return March, which includes among others, to “[l]ift the blockade on Gaza with immediate effect” and calls upon all duty bearers to implement, including previous recommendations made by the UN rights and facts finding bodies.
The side event is under agenda item 7 “Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories”, which BADIL presented a written statement during the 41st session on the protection gap, with special regards to the recent attacks on UNRWA. To see two short videos explaining the protection gap in regards to UNRWA and the recent attacks, click here and here.