Third Committee Spotlights Human Rights Abuses in Conflicts, Stressing Need to End Terrorist Attacks, Genocide, Illegal Hostage-Taking, Enforced Displacement
Delegates called on each other to address recent and long-standing conflicts, condemning human rights abuses and violations, including civilian population transfer, ethnic cleansing, and incitement to hatred, as the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) continued its discussion of the promotion and protection of human rights today.
Expressing grave concern over renewed tensions in Israel and Palestine, the representative of Malaysia noted that the Israeli apartheid regime has violated the rights of Palestinians for seven decades. The representative of Lebanon condemned the killing of the journalist Issam Abdallah along the south Lebanon border as an attack on free press. Syria’s delegate criticized Western support for ethnic cleansing and genocide, decrying the blindness of those countries to such crimes. “We also have the legitimate right to retrieve the occupied Syrian Golan and stand in the way of Israeli racism and to end Israeli crimes and massacres,” he said.
The representative of Qatar called on all parties to stop fighting, while warning against collective punishment and the forced displacement of civilians in the north of the Gaza Strip, which will prolong the conflict and exacerbate the suffering of Palestinians. She urged the international community to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and evacuation of injured civilians.
Meanwhile, the representative of the United States highlighted the brutality of the Hamas terrorist attacks, stressing that Israel has the right to defend itself following the slaughter of 1,300 civilians and taking of numerous hostages, including American citizens. Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination, he said.
Along similar lines, the representative of the United Kingdom condemned the Hamas terrorist attacks, expressing support for Israel’s right to defend itself proportionally, according to international law. He called for the Rafah Crossing to be opened for evacuation of foreign nationals and delivery of humanitarian aid. The representative of the European Union, in its capacity as observer, reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law, adding that his bloc calls for an immediate release of all hostages, he said.
Addressing another front, the representative of France voiced stark concern over Azerbaijan’s attacks in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in September, noting that the exodus of Armenians could constitute ethnic cleansing. His Armenian colleague recalled that the lack of clear-cut condemnation by the international community emboldened Azerbaijan to carry out its policy of forced displacement. The UN human rights machinery has a responsibility to ensure the rights of displaced people, he stressed.
In response, the Representative of Azerbaijan said her country is unwavering in its commitment to human rights, calling her Armenian colleague’s statement a fabricated narrative that undermines peaceful coexistence.
In a like vein, the representative of Pakistan expressed concern that the Indian volunteer group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s ideology replicates the last century’s fascism in Europe. Spotlighting massive violations of human rights in the illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, he warned that such “Hindu-fascism” could lead to ethnic cleansing.
Slovakia’s representative highlighted the civilian death toll of the Russian Federation’s full-scale attack on Ukraine, which has caused the widespread destruction of infrastructure, resulting in immeasurable harm for the civilian population, with long-term effects on the enjoyment of their human rights. The delegate of Ukraine condemned the destruction of hospitals and schools in her country, as well as the torture and killing of prisoners of war and abduction of children, which are war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In rebuttal, the representative of the Russian Federation condemned the recent campaign of Western nations to discriminate against Russia, stressing that violating the rights of Russians have becomes the norm, blocking its citizens from education and banking services as well as seizing private poverty, which all run counter to fundamental human rights agreements, he said. Through its actions, the West encourages hate based on national identity, he said.
https://press.un.org/en/2023/gashc4385.doc.htm
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