Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike on al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on November 7, 2024. (Photo by Reuters)
United Nations, December 1 (RHC)-- Senior Iranian legal official Kazem Gharibabadi has called on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) to remove Israel from the global body over its bloody war and heinous crimes against women and girls in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
Gharibabadi, who is Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, made the appeal in four identical letters addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, President of the UN Economic and Social Council Bob Rae, Chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women Abdulaziz M. Alwasil, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
“The presence of the criminal Zionist regime, which as per international human rights authorities, independent UN experts and independent human rights activists has turned Gaza into a slaughterhouse for civilians, particularly women and children, in the UN Commission on the Status of Women, whose nature is to promote the rights of women and girls and to prevent violence and discrimination against them, is an end to the credibility of international institutions and expectations of their efficacy during crises and humanitarian threats,” Gharibabadi wrote.
He drew attention to the published statistics about the scale and dimensions of the Zionist regime’s vicious crimes against civilians, especially women and children, in Gaza and Lebanon, wondering how such a major violator of human rights could remain in an international body that monitors, supports, and promotes the rights of women and girls.
More than 44,000 people have been killed and over 104,000 others injured in Gaza, and as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in its report on November 8, nearly 70% of the fatalities are women and children, and about 80% of the victims died during attacks on residential buildings and similar structures, Gharibabadi pointed out.
“The child-killing Zionist regime kills a child in Gaza every 10 minutes. More than 17,000 Palestinian children have been so far martyred as a result of this brutal massacre, and more than 255,000 Palestinian children in Gaza have lost their fathers or mothers.
“Furthermore, hundreds of babies have lost their lives shortly after birth due to the indiscriminate bombardment of residential areas, hospitals, schools, internally displaced persons (IDPs) tent camps, and destruction of healthcare facilities,” the Iranian diplomat said.
Gharibabadi went on to point to the dire situation of Lebanese women, especially pregnant women, as a result of Israeli aggression and bombardment of residential buildings, noting that displacement and damage caused by intensive bombings have increased the cases of miscarriages, premature births and stillbirths, and significantly raised the risk of maternal deaths.
“It is no longer a secret to anyone that the Zionist regime has violated the fundamental rules of international law, the United Nations Charter, international human rights and international humanitarian rights in Gaza and Lebanon on a very large scale,” the senior Iranian legal official stated.
“It has perpetrated war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, racial profiling as well as genocide, grossly violated the four Geneva Conventions regarding the killing of women and girls, and has caused a lot of suffering for vulnerable people in Gaza and Lebanon in light of the US and certain Western governments’ support.”
Gharibabadi added that the Israeli regime has also committed a full-blown violation of the support mechanisms related to peacekeeping forces and UN institutions, banned the activities of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), killed hundreds of UN employees in Gaza, carried out attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, tore up a copy of the UN Charter at the General Assembly, declared the United Nations chief persona non grata, and flagrantly disregarded the interim rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“It is absolutely clear that the Zionist regime, given its horrendous inhumane crimes, particularly against women and children, should never be allowed the possibility and permission to have a seat in or rejoin human rights institutions, including the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women,” Gharibabadi underlined.
