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Humanitarian aid falls through the sky towards the Gaza Strip after being dropped from an aircraft, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as seen from Israel, April 4, 2024. (Reuters)
India abstains as UNHRC adopts resolution condemning Gaza tactics & calls for arms embargo on Israel. Backed by over two dozen countries.
India abstained on Friday from a resolution adopted by the UN’s top human rights body, condemning the alleged “use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in Gaza”. The resolution, which also called for an arms embargo on Israel, was adopted by 28 votes in favour, six against, and 13 abstentions.
The 47-member Human Rights Council backed a call “to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel, the occupying Power…to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights”.
#HRC55 | Draft resolution A/HRC/55/L.30 on the Human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the obligation to ensure accountability and justice was ADOPTED. pic.twitter.com/URttz9IFjv— United Nations Human Rights Council | #HRC55 (@UN_HRC) April 5, 2024
Unlike the UN Security Council, Human Rights Council resolutions are not legally binding but carry significant moral weight and in this instance intended to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel amid its military campaign in Gaza.
Presented by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, delegates heard that the resolution had also been motivated by the need to stop “egregious” human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Co-sponsors of the text included Bolivia, Cuba and the State of Palestine, ahead of the vote which saw support from more than two dozen countries including Brazil, China, Luxembourg, Malaysia and South Africa.
Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar rejected the resolution as further evidence of the Council’s alleged anti-Israeli bias. “According to this resolution, States should not sell arms to Israel in its endeavour to defend its population, but they continue to arm Hamas,” she said.
“It cannot even condemn the brutal murder of over 1,200 of my people, the kidnapping of over 240 individuals, including infants, the rape, mutilations and sexual abuse of Israeli women, girls and men,” the Israeli official said later to journalists on the sidelines of the Council.
The latest document condemns the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects by Israel in populated areas in Gaza, underlining the “reverberating effects of such weapons on hospitals, schools, water, electricity and shelter, which are affecting millions of Palestinians”.
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