UN special advisor accused of bias against Palestinians
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16 Palestinian groups, including the Palestinians Human Rights Council, have sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General accusing a top UN official of failing to do her job.
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Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the UN special advisor on the prevention of genocide, speaks during a meeting of the UN Security Council on the maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine, on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, at United Nations headquarters. (AP)
Leading Palestinian human rights groups have accused the UN special advisor on the prevention of genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, of failing to fulfill her mandate regarding the Israeli genocide against Gaza after she issued only one statement in October, showing support for "Israel".
On Wednesday, 16 Palestinian groups, including the Palestinians Human Rights Council, sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stating there had been a “glaring absence of any action in response to the sustained mass atrocities endured by Palestinians in Gaza”, and that this raised “significant concerns about the special advisor’s capability to execute her mandate with due effectiveness and impartiality," accusing Nderitu of abandoning her duty as she did not warn about "potential genocide" and did not speak up about the Israeli crimes in Gaza.
For example, she has not commented on the International Court of Justice’s ruling in January regarding the South Africa v. "Israel" case, in which the judges hinted toward credible risk to Palestinians under the genocide convention.
According to the letter, Nderitu and her office are also not communicating with Palestinian groups who stated that she has been canceling planned meetings, refusing to respond to messages expressing concern, and failing to partake in official meetings within the UN building in New York addressing the threat of genocide in Gaza. This is contrary to other UN rapporteurs who have spoken up against "Israel" and in support of Gaza noting that such a responsibility also falls on Nedritu.
The Palestinian groups announced that in a statement on October 19, nine other UN special rapporteurs had shed light on the clear risk of genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza. Additionally, on November 2, eight other UN special rapporteurs stated that Palestinians are facing a huge risk of genocide who were then followed by 41 UN independent experts on November 14 urging the international community to take action in preventing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Double standards?
"The principles of genocide prevention must be universally applied, without making any special allowances or exceptions for anyone, including Israel”, the groups expressed in the letter, criticizing Nderitu's double standards as she has previously commented on an ICJ ruling on genocide in Ukraine, yet remained silent on ICJ's ruling in January against "Israel".
They added, “The foundation of the special adviser’s mandate is grounded in the lessons learned from past failure by the international community as a whole, including the UN, to undertake meaningful preventive efforts ahead of the genocide in Rwanda or Srebrenica.”
“Innocent civilians should never pay the price of a conflict for which they bear no responsibility," was all that Nderitu said in her only statement while largely "condemning Hamas".
The formal task of the special advisor, in this case Nderitu, is to advance national and international initiatives to safeguard populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and the incitement thereof.
UN expert: 'Israel' deliberately starving Palestinians
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri warned on social media on January 22 that "Israel" is intentionally starving Gazans and destroying Gaza's food system, describing the occupation's deliberate starvation of Palestinians as "unprecedented".
“It’s unprecedented to make an entire civilian population go hungry this completely and quickly. Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system. Israel is intentionally imposing a high rate of disease, prolonged malnutrition, dehydration, and starvation by destroying civilian infrastructure," he said.
The UN revealed in a report a week before Fakhri's statement that Gazans make up 80 percent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide, in what UN human rights experts categorized as an “unparalleled humanitarian crisis.”
“Currently every single person in Gaza is hungry, a quarter of the population are starving and struggling to find food and drinkable water, and famine is imminent,” the report said while also voicing concerns over pregnant women as they are not receiving nutrition and healthcare.
