Geneva, Switzerland – The Human Rights Council (HRC) held a special session to address “the grave human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem” on Thursday, 27 May.
At the Special Session of the HRC today, Maldives Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Asim Ahmed, reiterated Maldives unwavering commitment to the cause of the Palestinian people & their right to self-determination. He emphasised on the need to reach a political settlement for the long standing question of Palestine.
The special session was convened following an official request submitted late Wednesday jointly by Pakistan, as Coordinator of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the State of Palestine. It is supported by 63 States.
The meeting was webcast live and took place starting 10 a.m. on 27 May in a hybrid virtual format at the Palais des Nations in room 18. Due to COVID-19 measures, the majority of interventions were delivered virtually.
While over 200 Palestinians have died since the beginning of the from Israeli attacks since May 10, Israel condemned this meeting and called for member states to oppose it.
“The convening of yet another Special Session by the Human Rights Council targeting Israel is testament to the clear anti-Israeli agenda of this body,” Shahar tweeted. “The sponsors of this session are only rewarding the actions of Hamas, a terrorist organization, that has indiscriminately launched over 4000 rockets at Israeli civilians, using the people of Gaza as human shields.”
In order for a special session to be convened, the support of one-third of the 47 members of the Council – 16 or more – is required. This request was supported by the following States members of the Council (20): Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Eritrea, Gabon, Indonesia, Libya, Mauritania, Mexico, Namibia, Pakistan, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
The request is also supported by the observer States (43): Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Benin, Brunei Darussalam, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Suriname, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and the State of Palestine.
This was the thirtieth special session of the Human Rights Council. The last one was held in February 2021 on the human rights implications of the crisis in Myanmar.
