The Director of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in New York, Craig Mokhiber, resigned from his post on Monday, claiming that the United Nations had “failed in its duty” by remaining idle in the face of the genocide of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
In a letter addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, Mokhiber declared, “Once again we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes and the organization that we serve appears powerless to stop it.”
He said that the UN had failed to prevent previous genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraqi Kurdistan and Myanmar.
“High Commissioner we are failing again,” Mokhiber wrote, “The current wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist colonial settler ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs … leaves no room for doubt.”
Mokhiber denounced the attacks on homes, schools, churches, mosques and hospitals in Gaza, as well as the murder of thousands of civilians, adding that this is “a textbook case of genocide.”
He said that the US, UK and much of Europe have failed “to meet their treaty obligations” under the Geneva Conventions, accusing them of being complicit in “this horrific attack” and “actively encouraging these aggressions, by providing economic and intelligence support, and political and diplomatic cover for Israeli atrocities.”
In his correspondence, Mokhiber charged that “Western mainstream media continually dehumanizes Palestinians to facilitate genocide, propagandize war and incite national, racial or religious hatred,” which, according to him, constitutes “incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence.”
In such circumstances, Mokhiber considered that “the demands placed on our organization for principled action are greater than ever. We have not risen to the challenge,” he lamented. “The coercive and protective power of the Security Council has once again been blocked by American intransigence. Our human resources and human rights mechanisms are under constant defamatory attack from an organized network of impunity.”
