Sixth Committee, 10th plenary meeting - General Assembly, 80th session
Criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on mission - A/80/239, A/80/270
Responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts - A/80/156, A/80/77, A/80/76
Agenda items · 280th session
Item 77
Criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on mission
🇵🇸 State of PalestineFirst replyin response to Israel
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I will be very brief. I am exercising our right of reply in response to the unsubstantiated allegations and attacks against ONUROWA made by the Israeli representative in this morning. And let me begin by stating that the state of Palestine affirms that ensuring accountability of UN experts and officials in case of criminal offenses, alleged or perpetrated, must abide by the principle of due process. And we reiterate that it is without any shred of doubt that criminal accountability of UN staff and experts on mission is an essential precept of the workings of UN missions. But criminal accountability and justice Cannot be pursued on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations, but must be within a world of associated facts and evidence. At the same time, it is impossible to remain silent while the institutions of justice, international justice at that, are exploited to legitimize clear violations of international law and mass atrocities, including genocide. Claims made by the Israeli delegate are unsubstantiated allegations made to undermine the agency's mandate and obstruct its humanitarian operations, directly affecting the well being and fate of millions of Palestine refugees for whom Onarwa remains a lifeline. A series of not one, but three independent and impartial investigations, reviews, and assessments, including the Kelowna Report, OIOS investigation, and the strategic assessment on Onwa. have disproven such allegations of so called infiltration of Honor, and affirmed that the agency has robust accountability and neutrality mechanisms more than any other comparable agency, and that it upholds all the other humanitarian principles of independence, impartiality and humanity. Israel must seize its incitement against ONURA personnel and the agency as a whole. It must reverse its unlawful measures against Onwa and seize its violations of the Convention on the Privilege and Immunities of the Iran and all other violations. And most importantly, it must be held criminally accountable for all its war crimes and crimes against humanity and acts of genocide. This must include accountability for all its attacks on Onwa staff, more than 370 of whom Israel has directly targeted and murdered. Many alongside their families, including at least 500 children. And its attacks on and destruction of on or one other facilities, including where displaced, terrified civilians were sheltering and where it massacred and injured hundreds of other Palestinian civilians. There must be accountability for all these crimes on justice and reparations for the victims. Israel cannot remember the exception of the rule of law. The principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence must be upheld. Onarwa and the Secretary General are committed to these principles. They have publicly and repeatedly affirmed this commitment and undertaken actions to uphold them. The Colonna Review, whom we express our gratitude to, has given UNURA a clean bill of health, confirming, and I quote, UNURWA has established a significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the humanitarian principles, with emphasis on the principle of neutrality, and it possesses a more developed approach to neutrality than other similar UN or NGO entities. There can be no justification. Or whatsoever for Israel's attacks against a UN agency, its personnel and premises, its General Assembly mandate must be respected. International law, including humanitarian law and human rights law, must be respected. The Convention on Privilege and Immunities of the UN must also be respected. Due process must be respected, and the law must be upheld at all times without exception. ONURWA's role is indispensable and irreplaceable, and it's critical that the international community sends a strong signal of political support for the agency's essential work and reject the attempts of prematurely end its operations before the realization of a just solution to the question of Palestine, including for the refugees. Thank you.
Verbatim from the transcript. A reply is identified from its own words, the Chair's grant, or its place in the right-of-reply sequence; delegations and addressees follow the transcript's attribution.