THE director of the New York Office of the UN high commissioner for human rights has left his post, saying the UN is “failing” to prevent what he described as the “genocide” of Palestinians.
In his four-page resignation letter, Craig Mokhiber said he was writing at a moment of “great anguish” for the world.
He added that the issue was “deeply personal” to him as somebody who had “investigated human rights in Palestine since the 1980s”.
It comes after multiple deaths and injuries have been reported at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza after an explosion.
The letter said: “I also worked in these halls through the genocides against the Tutsis, Bosnian Muslims, the Yazidi, and the Rohingya.
“In each case, when the dust settled on the horrors that had been perpetrated against defenceless civilian populations, it became painfully clear that we had failed in our duty to meet the imperatives of prevention of mass atrocities, of protection of the vulnerable, and of accountability for perpetrators.
“And so it has been with successive waves of murder and persecution against the Palestinian throughout the entire life of the UN.
“High Commissioner, we are failing again.”
Mokhiber has worked for the UN since 1992, serving in a number of prominent roles. He led the high commissioner’s work on devising a human rights-based approach to development, and acted as a senior human rights adviser in Palestine, Afghanistan and Sudan.
In his letter he also hit out at the UK and US governments, saying they “are wholly complicit in the horrific assault”.
The letter added: “The currently wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist settler colonial ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs, and coupled with explicit statements of intent by leaders in the Israeli government and military, leaves no room for doubt or debate.
“In Gaza, civilian homes, schools, churches, mosques and medical institutions are wantonly attacked as thousands of civilians are massacred.”
He added that “this is a text-book case of Genocide”.
Following the strike on the refugee camp, Humza Yousaf said on Twitter/X: “I am sorry to those innocent men, women and children in Jabalia Refugee Camp that the world could not protect you.
“This blatant disregard for human life must be condemned unequivocally.
“Do not let any more children die. We need an immediate ceasefire, nothing less.”
