WHO condemns raids Israeli forces storm Kamal Adwan Hospital

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Israel detains director of key north Gaza hospital as WHO condemns raids
Israeli forces storm Kamal Adwan Hospital, putting the last remaining medical facility in northern Gaza out of service.

Based on Al JazeeraI report, srael’s army has detained the director of one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, as the World Health Organization said Israeli assaults on medical facilities are a “death sentence” for thousands of Palestinians.

An Israeli military assault on the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday put the last major health facility in northern Gaza out of service, the WHO said.

“Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burned and destroyed during the raid,” the WHO said in a statement on X on Friday evening.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had launched a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital as it “serves as a Hamas terrorist stronghold”, but failed to provide any evidence for this claim. Hamas said it “categorically” denied the claim.

Gaza health officials said on Saturday that Israeli forces had detained the director of the hospital.

“The occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention centre for interrogation, including the director, Hussam Abu Safia,” the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said in a statement.

The ministry had earlier quoted Abu Safia as saying the military had “set on fire all surgery departments of the hospital” and that there were “a large number of injuries” among the medical team.

As of Friday morning, the hospital housed about 350 people, including 75 patients and 180 medical staff.

The WHO said 25 patients in critical condition, including those on ventilators, reportedly remain with 60 health workers in the hospital.

The patients in moderate to severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed and non-functional Indonesian Hospital, the United Nations health agency said, adding it was “deeply concerned for their safety”.

The WHO reiterated its call for a ceasefire.

“This raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital comes after escalating restrictions on access for WHO and partners, and repeated attacks on or near the facility since early October,” the WHO said.

“Such hostilities and the raids are undoing all our efforts and support to keep the facility minimal[ly] functional. The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of healthcare.

Israel’s military began a renewed ground offensive in northern Gaza in October and has claimed that the hospital had become “a key stronghold for terrorist organisations and continues to be used as a hideout for terrorist operatives”.

Before initiating the latest attack on the hospital, the Israeli military said its soldiers had “facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel”.

Hamas denied its fighters were present in the hospital and urged the UN to set up an investigation committee “to examine the scale of crime being committed in northern Gaza”.

“We categorically deny the presence of any military activity or resistance fighters in the hospital,” Hamas said in a statement.

“The enemy’s lies about the hospital aim to justify the heinous crime committed by the occupation army today, involving the evacuation and burning of all hospital departments as part of a plan for extermination and forced displacement.”

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the Israeli military has often accused Hamas fighters of operating from medical facilities but has never proven these claims.

“Most notable was the raid on al-Shifa Hospital back in 2023 when the military said Hamas was using al-Shifa as a command and control centre, claims that to this day have never been proven,” she said, reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Al Jazeera has been banned from operating in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

“Now, Kamal Adwan was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, but again, it was barely functioning because of the siege that was put forward by Israeli forces – a siege on food, water, and all sorts of medical supplies.”

The hospital’s director had repeatedly raised concerns about its situation in recent days.

“The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside,” Abu Safia said in a statement on Monday.

Israel’s assault has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians since October last year, mostly children and women, according to health officials in the enclave. The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

 

 

 

We continue to repeat calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

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Statement delivered by Jorge Moreira da Silva, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNOPS Executive Director, at the Cairo Ministerial Conference on Enhancing the Humanitarian Response in Gaza

۰۲ December 2024

Excellencies,

We gather again as the escalation in Gaza has entered its second year, with devastating consequences on thousands of civilian lives, the remaining hostages and their families, and the overall uncertainty for the peaceful future of the region.

I visited Gaza a little less than a year ago, where I saw first-hand the desperate situation of families, and the incredible challenges that our colleagues face to deliver life-saving assistance.

Since the start, UNOPS has worked hard to enable the humanitarian response in Gaza and deliver support to the civilians in need. We are committed to continuing to deliver for those most in need.

My UNOPS colleagues on the ground have played a unique role in enabling the delivery and monitoring of fuel, operationalization of the UN 2720 Mechanism and the Access Support Unit. We procure and deliver essential items, including priority non-food items, health and hygiene supplies, and winterization kits. And we provide operational support to the UN Mine Action Service, enhancing the security of high-risk UN missions across Gaza, conducting Explosive Threat Assessments of UN premises and critical facilities (and raising awareness of the risks posed by explosive ordnance to the civilian population and aid workers).

Allow me to focus on two key aspects of our work – access and fuel – which are indispensable to the Gaza operation.

First, fuel remains one of the most critical provisions for humanitarian response in Gaza.

Through UNOPS monitoring and facilitation, and in close cooperation with UNRWA, between December 2023 and today, over 28.4 million litres of fuel were delivered in support of humanitarian operations to hospitals, bakeries, Internally displaced persons (IDP) shelters and for UN operations.

As of last week, when faced with an acute shortage of fuel donated to the humanitarian operation, UNOPS has activated further emergency measures to procure fuel for partners, supported by the humanitarian pooled fund.

I would like to emphasize here our call for urgent funding for the humanitarian fuel supply for Gaza, to ensure that operations can be sustained. But let’s not forget that we must give centrality to solar energy on the early recovery and reconstruction phases.

Second, access is another key enabler of the Gaza operation, which UNOPS supports through the Access Support Unit, and through the 2720 Mechanism.

The 2720 Mechanism aims to increase and speed up the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to Gaza. It includes a database for centralised requests for aid deliveries, along with monitors on the ground to support the verification of goods entering the Gaza Strip. Through the online database, the Mechanism provides full transparency showing rejections, approvals, and pending requests, while ensuring follow up on all requests where approvals take more than seven days. Together, these steps serve to reduce multiple controls, inspections and transloading of cargo.

Through this mechanism, with its database for centralised requests of aid deliveries along with monitors on the ground, as of 28 November, nearly 26,000 metric tonnes of aid have been delivered to Gaza. The vast majority of this is food, 87 per cent, followed by shelter, six per cent, and water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, four per cent.

However, access t
o people in need in Gaza remains severely restricted, and the amount of aid entering is simply not enough. The effective delivery of aid at the scale required will not be possible without political will, necessary security and safety guarantees, and an enabling environment.

I call on all of you to increase joint efforts to open more crossings, permit entry of more items, remove access restrictions and re-establish the rule of law mechanisms in Gaza to enable humanitarian delivery.

Excellencies, the people of Gaza are in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe. The response is simply not possible without UNRWA’s irreplaceable role.

In the face of the human tragedy in Gaza, we have a collective and urgent responsibility to act – not only to meet acute humanitarian needs but to prepare now for recovery and reconstruction as soon as conditions allow.

UNOPS is determined to stay and deliver for the people of Gaza. We continue to repeat calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages, and we will continue to work as part of the UN family to deliver hope, dignity and pathways toward a better future.

 

 

Dr. Vahid Ghasempour has been elected as the president of International Organization for Human Rights Development

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Dr. Vahid Ghasempour, Iranian author and political elite, has been elected as the president of “International Organization for Human Rights Development (IOHRD)” for five years.
Also, he has been elected as a permanent representative of the International Organization for Human Rights Development in the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.
Dr. Vahid Ghasempour is a professor of political science and the theoretician of the “development of human rights in southern countries” theory.
The meeting of the general assembly of IOHRD for the election of the president was held on September 16, in which Mr. Dr. Vahid Ghasempour was elected as the president of the organization for a period of five years with the majority of votes.
The headquarter and operational office of the International Organization for Human Rights Development is in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ten years after the Yazidi genocide: UN Syria Commission of Inquiry calls for justice, including accountability and effective remedies, for ISIL crimes

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IOHRD – OHCHR Reported on 3  August 2024 that, Ten years after ISIL attacked the Yazidi people of Sinjar, killing, displacing and capturing men, women, boys and girls and destroying the 400,000-strong community, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic calls for justice and accountability for ISIL crimes. In a position paper the Commission says that survivors and victims of the Yazidi genocide and ISIL crimes, as well as women and children held solely for their perceived affiliation to ISIL should be immediately released from unlawful detention in Northeast Syria and repatriated where possible and supported to rebuild their lives.

 

“The tragedy of the Yazidis, still ongoing, is also another urgent reminder that alleged members of ISIL from third country states in Northeast Syria detention should be repatriated and prosecuted for international crimes, including gender-based crimes, in national courts. We emphasize that survivors should be central to these efforts,” said Commission Chair Paulo Pinheiro.

 

On 3 August 2014, ISIL started its devastating assault on the Yazidi people of Sinjar in northwestern Iraq close to the border with Syria. The Commission documented how ISIL committed genocide as well as multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes through mass executions, forced religious conversions to Islam, enslavement and widespread sexual violence against women and girls. Following the attack on Sinjar, ISIL forcibly transferred thousands of captured Yazidis into Syria where girls as young as nine were subjected to sexual slavery and Yazidi boys as young as seven were forcibly trained for combat roles and suicide missions.

 

“The self-administration and the states making up the Global Coalition Against Da’esh (ISIL) must step up human rights-compliant efforts to identify and release Yazidi people held in the camps in the Noertheast” said Commissioner Hanny Megally, adding “Yazidis should be provided with meaningful choices regarding return to Iraq, reunification with family members or settlement in third countries with their children. Member states must facilitate these opportunities”

 

For those wishing to remain in Syria or return to Iraq, the international community should provide adequate funding of humanitarian responses including gender- and age-sensitive health, education, shelter, livelihoods, psychosocial, reintegration and rehabilitation programmes for the Yazidi community.

 

After the fall of Baghouz in March 2019 when ISIL lost its territorial hold in Syria, tens of thousands of people, mostly women and young boys and girls, assumed to be family members of ISIL fighters with many enslaved Yazidi women and girls among them, were detained in internment camps, including Al Hawl and Rawj in Northeast Syria. Today, some 44,000 women and children remain in these detention camps in Northeast Syria, including around 27,000 children. Two thirds are foreigners, from Iraq and more than 60 other countries. They are not able to leave and are detained indefinitely.

 

“Captured Yazidi women, girls, and boys, survivors and victims of the Yazidi genocide and other ISIL crimes, are still held alongside their persecutors in these dehumanising conditions in the Northeast Syria camps today. The international community should be supporting their recovery and well-being and pursuit of justice, not perpetuating the atrocities they have survived”, said Commissioner Lynn Welchman.

Human Rights Council to Hold its Fifty-Sixth Regular Session from 18 June to 12 July 2024

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The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold its fifty-sixth regular session from 18 June to 12 July 2024 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The session will open at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 18 June under the presidency of Ambassador Omar Zniber (Morocco). The opening will be addressed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk. The Council will be meeting in room XX of the Palais des Nations.

The Council this session has before it more than 60 reports and will hold 28interactive dialogues with Special Procedures mandate holders and investigative mechanisms. It will hold interactive dialogues with the High Commissioner on his annual report, on his reports on Myanmar under agenda item two, on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela under agenda item four, and on Colombia under agenda item 10, and on his oral presentation on Ukraine under agenda item 10

The Council will hold its annual discussion on the human rights of women in two panels on economic violence against women and girls, and on human rights economy and women’s rights, respectively. In addition, it will hold its quadrennial panel discussion on promoting human rights through sport and the Olympic ideal, on promoting inclusiveness in and through sports; its annual panel discussion on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights, on ensuring livelihood resilience in the context of the risk of loss and damage relating to the adverse effects of climate change; and its annual thematic panel discussion on technical assistance and capacity building, on enhancing technical cooperation and capacity building in the implementation of Universal Periodic Review recommendations.

Under agenda item two on the annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner and his Office and the Secretary-General, the Council will hold an enhanced interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan; an interactive dialogue on the first oral update of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan; and an interactive dialogue with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel.

The Council will also hear presentations under agenda item two of the Secretary-General’s interim report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; and of the High Commissioner’s oral update on the promotion and protection of human rights in Nicaragua. It will hold an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea.

Under agenda item three on the promotion and protection of all human rights, the Council will hold separate interactive dialogues with Special Procedures on the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; the human rights of internally displaced persons; the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy (Hansen’s disease) and their family members; violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences; the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the right to education; the independence of judges and lawyers; the human rights of migrants; extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises; the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; trafficking in persons, especially women and children; human rights and international solidarity; discrimination against women and girls; the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change; and on extreme poverty and human rights.

Under agenda item four on human rights situations that require the Council’s attention, the Council will discuss the situation of human rights in Belarus, the Syrian Arab Republic, Burundi, Myanmar and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Under agenda item 10 on technical assistance and capacity building, the Council will look at the situation in Libya, the Central African Republic, Ukraine and Colombia.

The final outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review of 14 States will also be considered, namely those of Saudi Arabia, Senegal, China, Nigeria, Mauritius, Mexico, Jordan, Malaysia, the Central African Republic, Monaco, Belize, Chad, the Republic of the Congo and Malta.

First Week of the Session

The fifty-sixth regular session will open on Tuesday, 18 June under the presidency of Ambassador Omar Zniber of Morocco. After the opening, the Council will begin considerations under agenda item two, on the annual reports of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the United Nations Secretary-General. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk will present his annual report, as well as his report on Myanmar. Subsequently, the Council will hold an enhanced interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, and an interactive dialogue on an oral update from the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan.

On Wednesday, 19 June, the Council, after concluding the interactive dialogue on Sudan, will hold an interactive dialogue with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel. This will be followed by an interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s annual report, which will conclude on Thursday, 20 June. The Thursday morning meeting will also see the Council hold an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea and hear presentations of the Secretary-General’s interim report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the High Commissioner’s oral update on the situation of human rights in Nicaragua. At the Thursday afternoon meeting, the Council will commence discussions under agenda item three on the promotion and protection of all human rights, holding separate interactive dialogues with the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.

On Friday, 21 June, the Council will conclude the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, before holding two further interactive dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy (Hansen’s disease) and their family members and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences.

Second Week of the Session

In its second week, the Council will hold 12 interactive dialogues. On Monday, 24 June, it will hold dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. On Tuesday, 25 June, dialogues will be held with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, the last of which will conclude on Wednesday, 26 June.

Other dialogues scheduled for Wednesday will feature the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity. The last of these will conclude on Thursday, 27 June, when separate interactive dialogues will also be held with the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Friday, 28 June will see the Council hold its annual discussion on the human rights of women, as well as an interactive dialogue on the report of the Office of the High Commissioner on human rights and new and emerging digital technologies, including artificial intelligence.

Third Week of the Session

To begin the Council’s third week on Monday, 1 July, two panel discussions will be held: the quadrennial thematic panel discussion on promoting human rights through sport and the Olympic ideal in the morning and the annual panel discussion on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights in the afternoon. In addition, an interactive dialogue will start with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, which will conclude on Tuesday, 2 July. Tuesday will see the Council hold an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and hear presentations of reports under item three. The Council will also begin discussions under item four, human rights situations that require the Council’s attention, with interactive dialogues with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus and on the oral update of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, which will continue on Wednesday, 3 July.

There will be three more interactive dialogues held on Wednesday, on the oral update of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi, the progress report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, and the High Commissioner’s report on the situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Council will then move to item five, human rights bodies and mechanisms, hearing the report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises on the twelfth session of the Forum on Business and Human Rights.

Thursday, 4 July, Friday, 5 July and the morning of Monday, 8 July will be dedicated to consideration under item six of the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review of Saudi Arabia, Senegal, China, Nigeria, Mauritius, Mexico, Jordan, Malaysia, the Central African Republic, Monaco, Belize, Chad, the Republic of the Congo and Malta.

Fourth Week of the Session

After concluding its consideration of the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review on Monday, the Council will hear the presentation of a written update on the operations of the Voluntary Fund for Participation in the Universal Periodic Review and the Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance in the Implementation of the Universal Periodic Review. It will then move to item nine and hold an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Subsequently, it will begin discussions under item 10, technical assistance and capacity building, holding two interactive dialogues on the Office of the High Commissioner’s report on technical assistance and capacity building to improve human rights in Libya and on the oral update of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Central African Republic, which will continue on Tuesday, 9 July.

Also on Tuesday, the Council will hear a presentation from the High Commissioner on the findings of his Office’s periodic report on the situation of human rights in Ukraine, and another of the interim report of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine. This will be followed by the annual thematic panel discussion under agenda item 10, which this year is on “Enhancing technical cooperation and capacity building in the implementation of Universal Periodic Review recommendations”. Also scheduled for Tuesday and the morning of Wednesday, 10 July is an interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on enhancement of technical assistance and capacity building to assist Colombia in the implementation of the recommendations made by the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition.

From Wednesday afternoon, through Thursday, 11 July and until the end of Friday, 12 July, the Council will take action on draft resolutions and decisions, appoint a number of Special Procedures mandate holders, and then close the session.

The Human Rights Council

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system, made up of 47 States, which are responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe. The Council was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 March 2006 with the main purpose of addressing situations of human rights violations and making recommendations on them.

The composition of the Human Rights Council at its fifty-sixth session is as follows: Albania (2026); Algeria (2025); Argentina (2024); Bangladesh (2025); Belgium (2025); Benin (2024); Brazil (2026); Bulgaria (2026); Burundi (2026); Cameroon (2024); Chile (2025); China (2026); Costa Rica (2025); Côte d’Ivoire (2026); Cuba (2026); Dominican Republic (2026); Eritrea (2024); Finland (2024); France (2026); Gambia (2024); Georgia (2025); Germany (2025); Ghana (2026); Honduras (2024); India (2024); Indonesia (2026); Japan (2026); Kazakhstan (2024); Kuwait (2026); Kyrgyzstan (2025); Lithuania (2024); Luxembourg (2024); Malawi (2026); Malaysia (2024); Maldives (2025); Montenegro (2024); Morocco (2025); Netherlands (Kingdom of the) (2026); Paraguay (2024); Qatar (2024); Romania (2025); Somalia (2024); South Africa (2025); Sudan (2025); United Arab Emirates (2024); United States of America (2024); and Viet Nam (2025).

The term of membership of each State expires in the year indicated in parentheses.

The President of the Human Rights Council in 2024 is Omar Zniber (Morocco)

The four Vice-Presidents are Febrian Ruddyard (Indonesia); Darius Staniulis (Lithuania); Marcela Arias (Honduras); and Heidi Schroderus-Fox (Finland). Mr. Staniulis also serves as Rapporteur of the Geneva-based body.

The dates and the programme of work of the fifty-sixth session are subject to change.