Press Releases

Geneva, UNHRC (24 March 2026)

On 24 March, during the 61st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), under Item #7, BADIL Resource Center submitted an oral statement under the Interactive Dialogue (ID) with the Special Rapporteur (SR) on the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) with regards to her report, Torture and Genocide. The report “documents how torture has become integral to the domination of and punishment inflicted on men, women and children, both through custodial abuse and through a relentless campaign of forced displacement, mass killings, deprivation and destruction of all means of life to inflict long-term collective pain and suffering.” 

The absence of accountability, the elimination of UNRWA and the denial of reparations encourage and enable the Israeli regime to continue to forcibly displace Palestinians and entrench its pillars of colonization and apartheid throughout Mandatory Palestine.  

BADIL called on UN member states to end their inaction and complicity in creating and sustaining a “torturous environment” that not only forcibly displaces Palestinians but prolongs this displacement.

Member states are obligated to impose sanctions, financially and politically enable UNRWA’s presence and operations, and impose a rights-based decolonial approach rooted in the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and return.

The video of BADIL’s intervention can be found here, at 39:53