Gaza-Israel escalation: UN rapporteurs appeal for end to violence

Experts call on both sides in the conflict to adhere to their obligations and urge the international community to recognize the rights of the Palestinian people

Five United Nations special rapporteurs published an appeal on Wednesday, May 18, calling on the international community to demand an immediate end to the violence in Gaza and Israel and to recognize the collective and individual rights of the Palestinian people.

According to the experts, the recent escalation of the conflict has a familiar pattern, starting after the dispossession and the denial of rights in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“Both sides must strictly adhere to their responsibilities under international law, especially that of proportionality and necessity. There is no justification, including counter-terrorism or self-defense, to justify a wholesale abdication of the obligations of the Parties to strictly obey international humanitarian law. The actions of both Israel and the Palestinian armed groups should be a matter for the International Criminal Court to investigate,” said the experts.

The statement was signed by Michael Lynk, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Clément Voule, special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of assembly and of association, Morris Tidball-Binz, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism and Koumbou Boly Barry, special rapporteur on the right to education.

• Read the full statement by the UN special rapporteurs (English | Portuguese – unofficial translation)