From the point of view of the highest UN human rights representative, the international community is doing too little to protect the people in the Gaza Strip. Volker Türk reminds heads of state and government of their duties.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, calls on the international community to protect the population in the Gaza Strip from serious human rights violations. “We may be faced with atrocities that could escalate to crimes against humanity,” he warned, referring to Israel’s warfare in the northern Gaza Strip.
The entire population in this area is affected by bombs, siege, displacement and hunger, said the Austrian UN diplomat. People are at risk of being arrested or shot at. But it is also “completely unacceptable” for Palestinian armed groups to endanger their own population by letting them mingle with civilians, he emphasized.
Türk reminded that states are not only obliged to take action against war crimes. “Under the Genocide Convention, States parties are also responsible for taking measures to prevent such a crime when a threat becomes apparent,” he said. “I implore you to put the protection of civilians and human rights first and not to abandon this minimum of humanity,” he appealed to heads of state and government.
Source: Stern
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