UN Rapporteur calls out High Comissioner Turk on Gaza: Exclusive
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UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, criticizes High Commissioner Volker Türk for refusing to call "Israel's" actions in Gaza a genocide.
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U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri gives a press conference in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Feb 14, 2024 (AP)
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, commented on the letter from staff members of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which criticized the High Commissioner, Volker Türk, for his reluctance to use the term "genocide" to describe what is happening in Gaza.
In an interview to Al Mayadeen, Fakhri stated: "It is embarrassing that the High Commissioner remains unwilling to acknowledge what is clear to the majority of the world, that Israel is committing a genocide against the Palestinian people, and the only way to stop a genocide is to publicly expose it so that world governments can better mobilize to fulfill their obligations to stop the genocide."
Fakhri added that "the frustration expressed by the staff in the letter reflects how ready UN staff and human rights practitioners are to intervene and stop this genocide, even if the leadership is slow to act."
UN Office of the High Commissioner staff call out Turk in letter
A few days ago, Al Mayadeen had reported on an internal letter, signed by 517 employees within the Office of the High Commissioner, that urged Volker Türk to adopt greater transparency and to accurately describe the situation in Gaza by employing the term "genocide," a grave outcome which the International Court of Justice had itself warned was a plausible risk.
The letter further demanded that the Commissioner's office acknowledge the concern over its delay in taking a clear and public stance on the situation in Gaza and the resulting damage to staff confidence in the leadership of the Office.
However, the staff found Turk's response to their letter deeply disappointing, as it failed to make even the slightest reference to "Israel's" actions under any applicable legal designation.
In his August 28th response, High Commissioner Volker Türk acknowledged his staff's concerns and moral outrage but declined to classify "Israel's" actions in Gaza as genocide. While praising his team's work and reaffirming the office's commitment to monitoring and accountability, he ultimately did not meet the employees' core demand for the specific legal designation.
The letter called on the office to conduct a human rights review of any of the Office's engagements, including commercial relationships, that could support or contribute to grave violations of human rights or humanitarian law in Gaza.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the Israeli-made famine in Gaza killed two Palestinians in the 24 hours leading up to the report published on September 14, bringing the total number of those dead by starvation to 422, among them 145 children.
