UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

8 November 2024

Human rights situation in Gaza

Jeremy Laurence, for the United Nations Human Rights (OHCHR), informed that today, the OHCHR had published a report detailing the horrific reality that had unfolded for the people of Israel and Gaza since 7 October 2023. The detailed analysis of violations covered the six-month period from November 2023 to April 2024, broadly examining the killing of civilians and breaches of international law that in many instances could amount to war crimes. If committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, further to a State or organizational policy, those violations might constitute crimes against humanity. If committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, they might also constitute genocide, the report warned.

The OHCHR report showed how civilians had borne the brunt of the attacks, including through the initial “complete siege” of Gaza by Israeli Forces, as well as the Israel Government’s continuing unlawful failures to allow, facilitate and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and repeated mass displacement. This conduct by Israeli Forces had caused unprecedented levels of killings, death, injury, starvation, illness and disease, the reports said. Palestinian armed groups had also conducted hostilities in ways that had likely contributed to harm to civilians.

Justice had to be served. It was essential that there would be due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies and that, in the meantime, all relevant information and evidence are collected and preserved. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk recalled States’ obligations to act to prevent atrocity crimes, and urged them to support the work of accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, in relation to the current conflict; exercise universal jurisdiction to investigate and try crimes under international law in national courts, consistent with international standards; and comply with extradition requests pertaining to suspects of such crimes to countries where they would receive a fair trial.

Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, speaking from Amman, said that, tragically, the patterns documented in this report continued unabated. Unprecedented levels of killing and injuries of civilians stemmed from Israel’s failure to preserve the bare minimum of humanity during armed hostilities. The report also looked into killings of medical personnel, humanitarian workers, civilian police, and journalists. Gaza’s civilian infrastructure had been destroyed by the Israeli conduct of hostilities. Gaza now lay in ruins. Women, men, children in Gaza did not have adequate access to water, food, shelter, or medical care. OHCHR had been verifying personal details of those killed in Gaza; close to 70 percent of the verified fatalities were women and children, indicating disregard of distinction and proportionality in Israeli strikes. The fundamental social structures and support networks of Palestinians in Gaza had been decimated, and the situation in north Gaza was getting worse and worse, warned Mr. Sunghay. There were attacks and raids on hospitals, arbitrary detentions of hundreds of Palestinians with allegations of ill-treatment. At the same time, the IDF prevented entry of adequate humanitarian support to Gaza. Nowhere was safe in Gaza, emphasized Mr Sunghay. It was time to take the path that would take Israelis and Palestinians towards the end of hostilities.

OHCHR report is available here, and the press release can be accessed here.

Answering to questions from the media, Mr. Sunghay explained that the OHCHR followed its global methodology in verifying civilian casualties. OHCHR had different sources, and its procedures required at least three different sources. These sources had been used in past escalations and included NGOs on the ground, hospital records, UN entities, families of the deceased, etc. Some 10,000 fatalities between October 2023 and August 2024 had been verified; 70 percent of them were women and children. It was difficult at the moment to extrapolate to the 42,000 fatalities that were being reported; that would require further research and verification. In previous escalations, explained Mr. Sunghay, the figures provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Health had matched the OHCHR’s own numbers and there was no reason to believe it was different this time around. Verifying 10,000 casualties with details on how they had perished was already a remarkable achievement under the current dire circumstances.

Also answering questions, Mr. Sunghay reminded that Gaza had been under the blockade for 17 years, adding that he had not yet heard about allegations that Israel intended to build a wall around Gaza. Responding to further questions, Mr. Sunghay said that since 6 October 2024, the UN had been experiencing difficulties going to the north of Gaza. People were being pushed from the north to the south, but nowhere was safe in Gaza.

It was always incumbent upon States in which crimes happened to prosecute crimes against humanity and war crimes, explained Mr. Laurence. If that did not work, universal jurisdiction, and instances such as the International Criminal Court, could be used. The information was available, and it was now up to courts to investigate and prosecute accordingly. The OHCHR report had been shared with Israel, as per usual practice, but no feedback had been received thus far. “Genocide” was mentioned in the report, as well as “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” but it would be for a court, Israeli or international, rather than the OHCHR, to make the determination on whether the necessary intent existed for international crimes under the Genocide Convention. Nobody should be subjected to violence or discrimination based on their ethnic, national, or religious origin, said Mr. Laurence responding to a question about the attack on the fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam the previous night.

Humanitarian situation in Lebanon

Lotte Ruppert, head of operations of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Lebanon, speaking from Beirut, said that more than one million people in Lebanon had now been forced to flee their homes. IFRC had launched an emergency appeal this week, asking for CHF 100 million, necessary to respond to the humanitarian needs in Lebanon as winter was about to start. Staff and volunteers were responding non-stop to the needs across the country. The Lebanese Red Cross was responsible for about 80 percent of ambulance services across the country. More funding was critical to ensure that staff and volunteers could continue to carry out their life-saving work.

This week, the IFRC Secretary-General had come to Beirut to express his solidarity with the people of Lebanon and to launch the emergency appeal. It was harrowing to see people who had had to leave everything behind them, often more than once. Many people had lost all of their possessions, and some had lost their family members too. Ms. Ruppert shared a story of a 14-year old boy Ahmed, displaced from southern Beirut and having had to sleep on a beach. Another story came from a Lebanese Red Cross volunteer from Nabatiyeh, whose town had been destroyed, but she carried on with her service in spite of everything. Some 17 Red Cross volunteers had been injured while on duty in recent weeks, said Ms. Ruppert. Their dedication to the Red Cross and humanity continued to be steadfast. Humanitarian workers had to be protected, she stressed. This was a marathon, not a sprint: even if hostilities in Lebanon were to end right now, which was hoped for, the needs would remain for a while. The Lebanese Red Cross, with the help of the IFRC, continued to provide all help it could, but more international support was desperately needed.

Replying to questions from the media, Ms. Ruppert said that the IFRC had already launched an appeal in October 2023, and Lebanon had received some CHF 9.3 million through that appeal. Since September 2024, the situation was completely different, which was why the new appeal had been launched this week. At the moment, the Red Cross was facing a serious funding gap.

Continued refugee flow from Sudan

Dominique Hyde, Director of External Relations at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), who had recently returned from eastern Chad, said that over three million people had been forced to flee Sudan since the beginning of the war. It had been over 19 months of unimaginable suffering for Sudanese people away from the world’s attention, said Ms. Hyde. She said that Chad had become a sanctuary for over 700,000 Sudanese refugees, majority of whom were women and children. This was the largest refugee influx in Chad’s history, on the top of the 400,000 Sudanese refugees who had already been residing in the country. People were arriving in squalid conditions, carrying nothing but their memories. Civilians were, once again, paying the highest price of this violent conflict. Ms. Hyde had heard firsthand of terrible violence these civilians had endured on their way to Chad: some had watched their families being murdered, women had been raped, men and boys killed and burned. It was a dangerous and inhuman route to safety, said Ms. Hyde. She shared a harrowing story of a group of over 180 Sudanese on the move, of whom only ten had made it safely to Chad.

UNHCR was appalled by impunity and the lack of action over this horrifying situation, which was shattering a whole generation. People who had made it to Chad safely felt safe and relieved. Other countries neighbouring Sudan had also gone above and beyond their means, extending a chance to refugees to restart their lives: children could go to school and adults could work and start their businesses. The population of Adre in the Chad border area had expanded almost fivefold, said Ms. Hyde, making it one of the largest refugee camps. Over 370,000 Sudanese refugees had been relocated within Chad; many more were waiting for the much-needed support to start rebuilding their lives. The resources were not there, stressed Ms. Hyde. Despite efforts, the health care system in Chad was severely under-resourced, access to water and education was inadequate. The refugee response plan was currently funded at only 29 percent. The world needed to act and support Chad and other neighbouring countries now.

Answering questions, Ms. Hyde said that the violence in Sudan continued unabated and there were no signs of respite, but she was hoping for ceasefire and eventual peace. The stories she had shared mostly came from people displaced from Darfur, explained Ms. Hyde. Similar atrocities were happening across the country. UNHCR was concerned whether the Sudan-Chad border would remain open after 15 November.

Food Price Index

Monika Tothova, Senior Economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), speaking from Rome, stated that FAO Food Price Index released this morning had increased by two percent in October compared to its September levels, reaching the highest level since April 2023. Price quotations for all commodities in the index, except meat, had risen, with vegetable oils recording the largest increase. The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index had increased by 7.3 percent from September, reaching a two-year high as quotations had risen for palm, soy, sunflower and rapeseed oil, driven mainly by concerns about production levels. The Sugar Price Index had increased by 2.6 percent amid persisting concerns over the 2024/25 production outlook in Brazil following a prolonged period of dry weather conditions. Sugar quotations had also risen due to higher international crude oil prices while the weakening of the Brazilian real against the United States dollar limited their increase. The Dairy Price Index had risen by 1.9 percent in October and 21.4 percent from its year-ago level. International cheese and butter prices had risen even as quotations for milk powders had declined. The Cereal Price Index had increased by 0.9 percent in October, led by rising wheat and maize prices. Global wheat prices had been impacted by unfavorable weather conditions in major northern hemisphere exporters as well as the re-introduction of an unofficial price floor in the Russian Federation and rising tensions in the Black Sea region. On the other hand, the Meat Price Index had dropped by 0.3 percent from September, led down by pig meat prices impacted by increased slaughter rates in Western Europe amid weak domestic and foreign demand.

Ms. Tothova explained that FAO’s new Cereal Supply and Demand Brief, also released today, forecast that global cereal production in 2024 would decline by around 0.4 percent from the previous year to 2,848 million tons, the second-largest output on record. Some 45 countries around the world – 33 in Africa, nine in Asia, two in Latin America and the Caribbean and one in Europe – were assessed to need external assistance for food, according to the latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, a triannual publication by FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System also published today. Conflicts and insecurity were the primary drivers of severe food insecurity, with the populations in the Gaza Strip, Haiti, Mali, and Sudan facing IPC 5 levels of acute food insecurity in 2024.

More information is available here.

Agricultural production was always sensitive to extreme weather events, said Ms. Tothova responding to a question. Looking at the global picture, commodities produced in some countries somewhat mitigated for extreme weather events occurring in regions elsewhere. It was not easy to make a straightforward link between the climate change and the food prices, she said.

Announcements

Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed that the 47th session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group was continuing this morning with the review of Brunei Darussalam. This afternoon, the reports on Norway, Albania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Portugal would be adopted. The following week, the UPR would continue, starting with Costa Rica and Equatorial Guinea on 11 November, Ethiopia and Qatar on 12 November, and Nicaragua on 13 November.

On 14 November at 6:45, the next Ciné-ONU event would take place at Cinerama Empire in Geneva. The movie “State of Silence” on the freedom of press and safety of journalists in Mexico would be shown, to be followed by a discussion on “Defending the Press: The Global Struggle for Freedom of Expression” with Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Diego Luna, Actor and Executive producer of the documentary; Gunilla von Hall, Journalist, Svenska Dagbaldet; and Thibaut Bruttin, Director general, Reporters Without Borders. More information is available here.

Ms. Vellucci informed that “Building Bridges” would host the fifth annual Building Bridges Summit and Action Days on 9-12 December 2024, at the CICG in Geneva. The event would focus on aligning financial flows with global sustainability goals and accelerating the transition to a more sustainable economic model. All details are available here.

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