Craig Mokhiber resignation l

etter

HEADQUARTERS
| SIEGE| NEW
YORK,
NY10017
TEL.:
+212
9635931
| craig.mokhiber@un.org

28October
2023
Dear
High
Commissioner,
This
will
bemylast
official
communication
toyou
asDirector
oftheNew
York
Office
oftheHigh
Commissioner
for
Human Rights.
Iwriteatamomentofgreat
anguish
forthe
world,
including
formany
ofourcolleagues.
Onceagain,
we
are
seeing agenocide
unfolding
before
oureyes,
andthe
Organization
that
weserve
appears
powerless
to
stop
it.Assomeone
who has
investigated
humanrights
inPalestine
since
the1980s,
lived
inGaza
asaUN
human rights
advisor
inthe
1990s,
andcarried
out
several
human
rights
missions
tothe
country
before
and
since,
thisisdeeply
personal
tome.
Ialso
workedinthese
halls
through
the
genocides
against
theTutsis,
Bosnian
Muslims,
the
Yazidi,
andthe
Rohingya.
Ineachcase,
whenthe
dust
settled
onthe
horrors
that
hadbeen
perpetrated
against
defenseless
civilian
populations,
itbecamepainfully
clear
that
wehadfailed
inour
duty
tomeettheimperatives
of
prevention
ofmassatrocites,
ofprotection
ofthe
vulnerable,
andofaccountability
for
perpetrators.
Andso
ithas
beenwithsuccessive
wavesofmurder
and
persecution
against
the
Palestinians
throughout
the
entire
life
ofthe
UN.

Craig
High Mokhiber
Commissioner,
weare
failing resignation l
again.
Asahumanrights
lawyer
withmorethan
three
decades
ofexperience
inthefield,
Iknowwell
that
the
etter
concept
ofgenocide
Palestinian
has
people,
often
rooted
beensubject
topolitical
abuse.
inanethno-nationalist
settler
Butthecurrent
colonial
ideology,
wholesale
slaughter
incontinuation
ofthe
ofdecades
of
their
systematic
persecution
andpurging,
based
entirely
upontheir
status
asArabs,
and
coupledwith
explicit
statements
ofintent
byleaders
intheIsraeli
government
and
military,
leaves
noroomfordoubt
or
debate.
InGaza,
civilian
homes,
schools,
churches,
mosques,
andmedical
institutions
arewantonly
attacked
asthousands
ofcivilians
are
massacred.
IntheWest
Bank,
including
occupied
Jerusalem,
homes
are
seized
andreassigned
based
entirely
onrace,
andviolent
settler
pogroms
are
accompanied
byIsraeli
military
units.
Across
the
land,Apartheid
rules.
Thisisatext-book
case
ofgenocide.
TheEuropean,
ethno-nationalist,
settler
colonial
project
inPalestine
hasentered
itsfinal
phase,
toward
theexpedited
destruction
ofthe
last
remnants
ofindigenous
Palestinian
life
inPalestine.
What’s
more,thegovernments
oftheUnited
States,
theUnited
Kingdom,
andmuch of
Europe,are
whollycomplicit
inthe
horrific
assault.
Notonly
are
these
governments
refusing
tomeettheir
treaty
obligations
“to
ensure
respect”
for
theGeneva
Conventions,
but
theyare
infact
actively
armingthe
assault,
providing
economic
andintelligence
support,
andgiving
political
anddiplomatic
cover
forIsrael’s
atrocities.
Volker
Turk,
High
Commissioner
for
Human
Rights
Palais
Wilson,
Geneva

1 of 4
Inconcert
with
this,
western
corporate
media,
increasingly
captured
and
state-adjacent,
are
inopen
breach