The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News , Press Conferences | HRC
HRC Press Conference: Special Rapporteur on oPt - 27 March 2024
Rights expert alleges ‘genocidal incitement’ being committed in Gaza
Israel's "genocidal incitement" against Palestinians in Gaza transcends the scope of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory alleged on Wednesday.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council, Francesca Albanese maintained that Israel had used “humanitarian camouflage” to pursue nearly six months of intense bombardment in Gaza, in response to Hamas-led terror attacks on Israeli communities that left some 1,200 dead and more than 250 taken hostage.
“Israel has justified - has explained - its military actions as proportionate, as not targeting civilians; they didn't achieve that goal, considering that 70 per cent, 70 per cent of the victims have steadily been women and children, throughout the assault on Gaza.”
Ms. Albanese’s comments came a day after she presented her report to the Human Rights Council maintain that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide” had been met.
At a scheduled Press conference, the Special Rapporteur insisted that the “flagrant and systematic slaughter of Palestinian civilians, the deployment of unlawful weaponry, the utter obliteration of vital civilian infrastructure, including the deliberate targeting of all Gaza’s hospitals and the man-made starvation of the Palestinian people transcend the realm of war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
Speaking in French, the independent rights expert who is not a UN staff member referenced the “Nakba”, or “catastrophe”, that Palestinians use to describe the events of 1947 when many were displaced after the founding of the State of Israel, and the 1967 war between Israel and regional neighbours.
"To be pursued, pulled apart as a people, that’s the Nakba. The Nakba is what Palestinians have lived through since 1947 and also in 1967, nobody talks about it, but the destruction of villages, the forced depopulation – that’s what they went through. It’s for this reason that I’m saying this is not exactly new (but) now it has reached a level that we can no longer ignore.”
Ms. Albanese also made reference to the use of dehumanizing rhetoric about Palestinians in Israel after the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led terror attacks: “Having people in with command authority or having the Prime Minister and having the President of the State issuing statements, they are so dehumanising, evoking violence, not once, not twice, continuously for months; it's supported by jurisprudence in other in other cases that this is genocidal incitement.”
Citing international law, Ms. Albanese previously explained that genocide is defined as a specific set of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
“Specifically, Israel has committed three acts of genocide with the requisite intent, causing seriously serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the group,” she said.
ends
STORY: Albanese OPT Report
TRT: 2:26”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 27 March 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley
2. Wide shot: speaker at the podium of the press conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Speaker: Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on The Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967: “The flagrant and systematic slaughter of Palestinian civilians, the deployment of unlawful weaponry, the utter obliteration of vital civilian infrastructure, including the deliberate targeting of all Gaza’s hospitals and the man-made starvation of the Palestinian people transcend the realm of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
4. Medium shot: Journalists in the press room
5. SOUNDBITE (French) – Speaker : Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on The Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967 : "Être chassé, désintégré en tant que peuple c’est quelque chose qui est la Nakba. La Nakba c’est ce que les Palestiniens ont vécu depuis 1947 et encore en 1967personne n’en parle mais la destruction de villages, le dépeuplement forcé c’est ce qu’ils ont vécu. C’est pour ça, ce que je dis ce n’est pas tout à fait nouveau maintenant on a atteint un niveau qu’on ne peut plus ignorer. ”
6. Wide shot: speakers at the podium filmed from behind during the press conference with journalists in the press room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Speaker: Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on The Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967: “Israel has justified, has explained its military actions as proportionate, as not targeting civilians - they didn't achieve that goal, considering that 70 per cent, 70 per cent of the victims have steadily been women and children - throughout the assault on Gaza.”
8. Wide shot: Journalists, cameraman and people in the gallery of the press room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – – Speaker: Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on The Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967: “Having people in with command authority or having the Prime Minister and having the President of the State issuing statements, they are so dehumanising, evoking violence, not once, not twice, continuously for months; it's supported by jurisprudence in other in other cases that this is genocidal incitement.”
10. Medium shot: journalists in the press room
11. Wide shot: speakers at the podium filmed from behind during the press conference with journalists in the press room
12. Medium shot: journalists in the press room
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WIPO , UNICEF , UNHCR , WHO , IFRC
Rolando Gómez, of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Federation of the Red Cross, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the Organisation Internationale pour la Francophonie, and the GIGA Connectivity Forum.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OHCHR
Gaza aid site horror continues as more starving people shot trying to get food
Amid intensifying hopes for a new Gaza ceasefire, UN humanitarians confirmed disturbing details on Friday of continued killings and injuries of Palestinians desperately seeking food at aid sites.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC
Launch of the latest report of the Special Rapporteur "From economy of occupation to economy of genocide".
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
A clearer picture of needs across Iran is beginning to emerge after the conflict this month with Israel, which left hundreds dead, several hospitals hit and a spike in Afghan refugees returning home, the UN’s top official in Tehran said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO
The blistering early-summer heatwave that’s brought life-threatening temperatures across much of the northern hemisphere is a worrying sign of things to come, UN weather experts said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | IFRC , WFP , WMO
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the United Nations in Iran, the World Food Programme, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Meteorological Organisation, and the International Federation of the Red Cross.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Human Rights Council annual panel on adverse impacts of climate change.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
The first meagre midweek delivery of urgently needed medical goods to enter Gaza in months will provide scant relief to the enclave’s people, who continue to be shot and killed as they search for food, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
2
1
2
Statements , Edited News | HRC
Enhanced interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on Myanmar presented by Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and oral update by Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WHO
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the World Health Organisation, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and the World Meteorological Organisation.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
The conflict-impacted people of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) urgently need much more international assistance than they are getting today, the UN’s top aid official said on Thursday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | OHCHR
Forms of sex-based violence against women and girls, and the concept of consent in relation to violence against women and girls