logo
UN rights commission on Israel-Palestine to be renewed as all three members resign

UN rights commission on Israel-Palestine to be renewed as all three members resign

Malay Mail15-07-2025
GENEVA, July 15 — The three members of a United Nations commission charged with investigating human rights abuses in Israel and the Palestinian territories have resigned, saying it is time to renew the body, a UN spokesperson said yesterday.
The three-person commission was created in 2021 and has been sharply criticized by Israel.
South Africa's Navi Pillay, 83, who once headed the international tribunal for Rwanda, cited her age in a letter announcing her resignation.
Australia's Chris Sidoti, 74, said in his letter it was an 'appropriate time' to renew the commission, while India's Miloon Kothari, in his late 60s, just said it had been 'an honour' to serve.
Jurg Lauber, the head of the UN's Human Rights Council, asked the council's member states to propose new members by August 31. — AFP pic
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

More than 100 NGOs warn 'mass starvation' spreading across Gaza
More than 100 NGOs warn 'mass starvation' spreading across Gaza

New Straits Times

time5 hours ago

  • New Straits Times

More than 100 NGOs warn 'mass starvation' spreading across Gaza

JERUSALEM: More than 100 aid organisations warned on Wednesday that "mass starvation" was spreading across the Gaza Strip and that their own colleagues were suffering acutely from the shortages. Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where more than two million people have endured 21 months of devastating conflict. Even after Israel began easing a more than two-month aid blockade in late May, Gaza's population is still suffering extreme scarcities of food and other essentials, with residents frequently killed as they try to collect aid at a handful of distribution points. In a statement, the 111 signatories — including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam — warned that "our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away." "As the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families," the statement read. The groups called for an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings and the free flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms. The UN yesterday said Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May — effectively sidelining the existing UN-led system. Israel says humanitarian aid is being allowed into Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, including by stealing food handouts to sell at inflated prices or shooting at those awaiting aid. In their statement, the humanitarian organisations said that warehouses with tonnes of supplies were sitting untouched just outside the territory, and even inside, as they were blocked from accessing or delivering the goods. "Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions," the signatories said. "It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage," they added. "The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises. Humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday that the "horror" facing Palestinians in Gaza under Israeli military attack is unprecedented in recent years. More than two dozen Western countries recently urged an immediate end to the war, saying suffering in Gaza had "reached new depths." The aid organisations urged decisive action from governments, saying that "piecemeal arrangements and symbolic gestures... serve as a smokescreen for inaction." Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 59,106 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Hamas's Oct 7, 2023 attack, which sparked the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The head of Gaza's largest hospital on Tuesday said 21 children had died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the past three days. — AFP

Columbia University sanctions 80 students over Gaza protests
Columbia University sanctions 80 students over Gaza protests

The Sun

time6 hours ago

  • The Sun

Columbia University sanctions 80 students over Gaza protests

NEW YORK: Columbia University has imposed disciplinary actions, including expulsions and degree revocations, on nearly 80 students involved in anti-Israel protests on campus. The sanctions follow months of tension as the university negotiates with the Trump administration to restore $400 million in federal funding cuts. The university stated that the punishments stem from a library sit-in in May and an encampment during alumni weekend in spring 2024. Disciplinary measures include probation, suspensions ranging from one to three years, degree revocations, and expulsions. Columbia, a focal point of nationwide campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza, has faced pressure from the Trump administration over alleged anti-Semitism. The university has agreed to policy reforms to regain federal funding, a move that has angered many students. The student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which advocates for cutting financial ties with Israel, condemned the sanctions as excessive. 'We will not be deterred. We are committed to the struggle for Palestinian liberation,' the group said. Harvard University, another Ivy League institution, is also contesting federal funding cuts in court. Columbia's latest sanctions mark the conclusion of disciplinary actions from the 2024 protests. - AFP

US to exit Unesco again, citing anti-Israel bias and 'globalist agenda'
US to exit Unesco again, citing anti-Israel bias and 'globalist agenda'

New Straits Times

time13 hours ago

  • New Straits Times

US to exit Unesco again, citing anti-Israel bias and 'globalist agenda'

PARIS: The United States said Tuesday it would quit Unesco, saying the UN cultural and education agency, best known for establishing world heritage sites, is biased against Israel and promotes "divisive" causes. President Donald Trump had already ordered withdrawal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation once before, in 2017 during his first term. President Joe Biden then reestablished US membership. "Continued involvement in Unesco is not in the national interest of the United States," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said. Unesco called the US departure – which it said will take effect in December 2026 – regrettable, but unsurprising, and said its financial impact would be limited. "I deeply regret President Donald Trump's decision to once again withdraw the United States of America from Unesco," Director-General Audrey Azoulay said, adding the move contradicted fundamental principles of multilateralism. "However regrettable, this announcement was expected, and Unesco has prepared for it," she said. In recent years, Azoulay said, Unesco had "undertaken major structural reforms and diversified our funding sources", including with private and voluntary governmental contributions. The US share of Unesco's total budget currently stands at eight percent, she said. This compares to an estimate of nearly 20 per cent a decade ago, according to a Unesco source who asked not to be named. No staff redundancies were planned, Azoulay said. Bruce described Unesco as working "to advance divisive social and cultural causes" and being overly focused on UN sustainability goals, which she described as a "globalist, ideological agenda." Bruce also highlighted what she said was the body's anti-Israeli position in admitting Palestine as a state. "Unesco's decision to admit the 'State of Palestine' as a member state is highly problematic, contrary to US policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organisation," Bruce said. The administration has also objected to Unesco's recognition of heritage sites in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem as Palestinian. Azoulay said the reasons put forward by the United States "are the same as seven years ago" although, she said, "the situation has changed profoundly, political tensions have receded, and Unesco today constitutes a rare forum for consensus on concrete and action-oriented multilateralism." Washington's claims "contradict the reality of Unesco's efforts", she added, "especially in the field of Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism." The source at Unesco described the US move as "purely political, without any real factual base." The organisation had already been "forced" to do without US money for several years after their departure in 2017, the source told AFP. Unesco adapted but new sources of funding would still need to be found, the source said. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar welcomed on X the US decision: "This is a necessary step, designed to promote justice and Israel's right for fair treatment in the UN system." "The United Nations requires fundamental reforms in order to remain relevant," he said. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, called Unesco "an organisation that has lost its way" and praised the US for demonstrating "moral clarity in the international arena." French President Emmanuel Macron said on X that Unesco had his "unwavering support" that would not weaken after the US departure. The UN organisation describes its mission as promoting education, scientific cooperation and cultural understanding. It oversees a list of heritage sites aimed at preserving unique environmental and architectural gems, ranging from Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Acropolis of Athens and Pyramids of Egypt. Twenty-six world heritage sites are located in the United States. The Unesco source said that the United States will continue to be represented on the world heritage committee even after leaving the organisation formally, just as it had in 2017. Trump was not the first to pull the United States out of Unesco. President Ronald Reagan ended US membership in the 1980s, saying the agency was corrupt and pro-Soviet. The United States reentered under the presidency of George W. Bush. The American return under Biden was a major success for Azoulay, who became Unesco chief in 2017, also because it included a pledge to pay back the US's contribution arrears to the tune of US$619 million. On Tuesday, Azoulay said the United States could always return to the fold in the future.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store