27 February - 4 April 2023

Item 2: Interactive dialogue on the report of the High Commissioner on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the obligation to ensure accountability and justice.

3 March 2023 

Joint Statement with Association Ma’onah for Human Rights and Immigration and Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ)

Delivered by Isabel Garcia Aguilar / GICJ

Thank you Mr President, 

The situation in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem is deteriorating day after day and the number of Palestinians who have been killed by the hand of the Israeli security forces or settlors keeps growing. A record number of at least 55 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in 2023, a record to be ashamed of. 

Between January 2017 and October 2022, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces was up to 559 with only 79 investigations open, in the end only 3 led to a conviction. 

Arguments from the State of Israel concerning provocations can not justify the killings, nor the lack of investigations into the killings, of innocent civilians like the Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May last year. 

Israeli security forces continue to openly violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law, without redress and sanction. This can no longer be tolerated by the international community. 

Association Ma’onah for Human Rights and Immigration and Geneva International Centre for Justice firmly condemn the impunity granted to Israeli security forces. We call on the Human Rights Council support mechanisms that achieve justice and accountability for the dead and for all Palestinians.

Thank you.