UN rapporteur rails at international community’s “inaction, even support”
Portugal has been singled out today as one of the few countries that is not complicit with Israel’s “campaign of genocide” against the Palestinian people.
At a press conference from the United Nations headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland), devoted to the “escalating violence and human rights violations in Gaza and all the occupied Palestinian territories”, rapporteur for human rights Francesca Albanese said that most Western countries “remain inactive at best, or actively aid and assist Israel’s criminal behaviour”, placing Portugal among the few exceptions.
When asked about her comments on the West’s passivity, Albanese said it was “much easier to list the Western countries that have done something” to counter “the majority that tolerates or allows Israel’s conduct” in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories, and then pointed to “Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and, to some extent, Portugal” as countries that “have been more critical, and that, in different measures, have taken some steps”.
Last May, Spain and Ireland, along with Norway, recognised the Palestinian state, and Slovenia took the same position in June. Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg have yet to do so, but have long been advocates of the ‘two-state’ solution, in line with the UN, and in recent months have criticised the abuses of the Israeli operation following the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, calling for a ceasefire.
During the last government, former foreign affairs minister João Gomes Cravinho showed absolute commitment to support the Palestinian people – particularly when Israel encouraged the cutting of aid to UNRWA on the basis of unsubstantiated claims.
This government’s foreign minister Paulo Rangel has also stressed that Portugal is open to considering sanctions against specific elements of the Israeli government, if there is European consensus (following an appeal to this effect by the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell).
Three more special rapporteurs took part in today’s press conference – George Katrougalos, rapporteur on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, rapporteur on the right to drinking water and sanitation, and Tlaleng Mofokeng, rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health – all of whom warned of the seriousness of the situation on the ground, which they say is possible given Israel’s sense of ‘impunity’.
Arguing that “the international community must act decisively and now”, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, insisted that the escalation of violence, not only in the Gaza Strip but also in the West Bank, “is alarming“, and although there are already more than 40,000 Palestinians dead as a result of Israeli operations, in what she unhesitatingly classifies as “an ongoing genocide (…) those responsible for the crimes remain unpunished”.
Israel has now been at war with Hamas since its massacre of Israeli citizens on October 7 last year. The so-called ‘military response operation’ has already caused at least 41,182 deaths – according to the Hamas government’s Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not specify the percentage of combatants and civilians killed – and completely obliterated Gaza’s infrastructure.
In Israel, the backlash by citizens to the government’s actions has seen widespread protests, but the overall policy of war continues. ND
Source material: LUSA
