From my e-mail:
Dear all,
The Center for Economic and Social Rights is hosting a press conference tomorrow at the United Nations for the public release of a new report by Jean Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. The press release below provides details of the event and of Mr. Ziegler’s outstanding and important human rights report. Please circulate the report to anyone who might be interested. The report is at: http://www.unhchr.ch/pdf/chr60/10add2AV.pdf.
In solidarity
Roger Normand
Executive Director
NEW UN REPORT CONDEMNS ISRAELI VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHT TO FOOD
Palestinian society faces the possibility of “physical, social and psychological destruction”
Press Contacts:
Roger Normand, Executive Director, Center for Economic and Social Rights, (718) 237-9145 ext. 12
Press Briefing: November 12, 2003, 12:45-1:15 PM, UN Briefing Room (S-226)
New York, November 11, 2003- At a press briefing on November 12, Jean Ziegler, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, will discuss the findings of a new report condemning Israel for denying the right to food and water to 3.8 million Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. The report is at: http://www.unhchr.ch/pdf/chr60/10add2AV.pdf.
“Behind the headlines of escalating violence, there is the hidden danger of escalating physical, social and psychological destruction of a very ancient society,” said Ziegler. “This tragedy is being largely ignored by world public opinion, the mass media, and the international community of nations.”
Among the main findings of his report:
. 22% of Palestinian children under five are suffering from malnutrition-a three-fold increase from 2000.
. 9.3% suffer acute malnutrition-an eight-fold increase from 2000.
. 15.6% suffer acute anemia, which can lead to permanent impairment of physical and mental development.
. Food consumption has fallen 30% per capita; 60% of Palestinian households now live in acute poverty; and 50% are dependent on international food aid.
“According to the World Bank, the main causes of this humanitarian tragedy are Israeli practices of closures, curfews, and denial of free movement – even at times to sick persons and relief organizations,” said Ziegler. “These practices are rooted in an overall policy of occupation that continues to expand Jewish settlements in the OPT, isolate Palestinian communities from one another, and destroy Palestinian homes and farmland. Population transfer from the occupying state to occupied territory is expressly prohibited by Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention, yet over 400,000 Israeli citizens now live in the OPT, including East Jerusalem.”
Mr. Ziegler is the first UN human rights representative whose mission was officially welcomed and facilitated by the Israeli government. As a prominent sociology professor in Switzerland, he is well known for his research exposing the complicity of Swiss banks in exploiting Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
From 3-12 July, 2003, he met Israeli political leaders and military commanders, Palestinian officials, UN officials and relief workers, and representatives from Israeli, Palestinian and international NGOs.
Ziegler reported frank and open conversations with Israeli military staff responsible for the OPT, many of whom acknowledged that Israel’s occupation policies may be contributing to the humanitarian crisis, yet insisted that the security requirements of Israeli citizens, both inside the Green Line and in the OPT, necessitated drastic measures.
“The Israeli government has the right and obligation to assure the security of its citizens,” said Ziegler. “As any other sensible human being, I deeply regret the violence that has cost the lives of over 800 Israelis and 2700 Palestinians in the past 3 years. But the widespread denial of adequate food and water to an occupied people constitutes an act of collective punishment prohibited under international law. If the Israeli government is allowed to continue these policies, particularly the ongoing construction of the separation wall in the OPT, there will be no possibility for a future Palestinian state to guarantee the right to food for its citizens. The international community has a vital interest in taking effective action to safeguard all the human rights of Palestinians and Israelis alike.”
At the press conference, Mr. Ziegler will be introduced by Roger Normand, Executive Director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights. CESR is a UN-accredited NGO with a longstanding focus on promoting human rights and international law to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As the first group to document economic and social rights violations in the OPT, CESR has worked with a broad range of local and international organizations to demand full respect for human rights from both Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
—
This message was sent from the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) email list. For more information on CESR, see our website: