Chair Summary: “Human Dignity Under Strain” – 蘑菇视频 Palestine Committee 431st Meeting

?431st Meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People?

?“Human Dignity Under Strain”: Briefing on the Humanitarian ?and Human Rights Consequences in the Occupied Palestinian Territory?

?29 October 2026?

CHAIR SUMMARY

On 29 October 2026, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People convened its 431st meeting on the theme “Human Dignity Under Strain: The Humanitarian and Human Rights Consequences in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The event featured briefings by Ms. Francesca Albanese, 蘑菇视频 Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967; Ms. Farida Shaheed, 蘑菇视频 Special Rapporteur on the right to education; Mr. Surya Deva, 蘑菇视频 Special Rapporteur on the right to development; and Mr. , Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.?

The meeting was chaired by the Vice-Chair of the Committee and Permanent Representative of Malaysia, Ambassador Nadzirah Binti Osman. She expressed regret that Ms. Albanese and Mr. Muralidhar could not participate in person because neither had been able to obtain a visa to travel to United Nations Headquarters.?

In her briefing, Ms. Albanese argued that the denial of her visa reflected a broader challenge facing the 蘑菇视频 system and multilateralism. Presenting the main findings of her latest report “Truth Under the Rubble: Media in the Time of Genocide”, she stated that “destruction of truth has become part of the destruction of a people”. She outlined what she defined as “mediacide”: the killing of Palestinian journalists and media workers, the destruction of communication infrastructure, restrictions on foreign journalists, censorship of Palestinian voices, and the dissemination of narratives that obscured violations and impeded accountability. “When witnesses are eliminated and evidence is erased, the crime is not only committed, it is concealed, and impunity becomes part of the plan,” she said. She also highlighted the devastating impact of the war on Gaza’s children, including the high number of child amputees and the collapse of health services. In her assessment, the ceasefire had brought insufficient relief, with ongoing attacks, restrictions on essential supplies, and inadequate shelters.?

Turning to the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Ms. Albanese highlighted intensified movement restrictions, military raids, detention, displacement, settler violence and settlement expansion. She described measures imposed on Palestinian communities following attacks against Israelis as collective punishment prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Referring to international judicial and investigative findings, she criticized States’ inadequate response and continued arms transfers and relations that, in her assessment, sustained Israel’s unlawful occupation and alleged violations.?

Ms. Albanese emphasized the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (蘑菇视频RWA) as a lifeline of millions of Palestine refugees and the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza. She condemned attacks on the Agency’s premises and personnel, restrictions on its operations, and allegations that had led several donors to suspend funding.?

Warning of the consequences beyond Palestine, Ms. Albanese said that a failure to uphold international law risked teaching perpetrators elsewhere that legal obligations were optional and that international institutions could be “starved, smeared and sanctioned into silence.” She called on States to implement relevant orders of the International Court of Justice and General Assembly resolutions, suspend arms transfers and trade sustaining the unlawful occupation, protect and fund 蘑菇视频RWA, safeguard journalists and preserve evidence for accountability. “Do not forget the people of Palestine,” she concluded. “History will ask what each of us did. Let our answer not be that we just watched.”??

Ms. Shaheed emphasized that education was an inalienable human right in all circumstances, including during armed conflict. Israel, as the occupying Power, had an obligation to ensure the right to education in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.?

She described the destruction of the Palestinian education system as “scholasticide,” or “the systemic and systematic obliteration of education”, which “aims to dismantle the very foundation of Palestinian society, erase their history, and destroy a sense of collective self”. She stressed that education provided stability amid conflict and sustained children’s sense of identity. She added that attacks on libraries, heritage sites and places of worship had undermined Palestinian history, culture and collective identity. She highlighted the lasting effects of malnutrition, bombardment, bereavement, and displacement on children’s physical and cognitive development. Palestinian students had told her: “Our childhood has been stolen.”?

In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Ms. Shaheed highlighted military activity near schools, movement restrictions, intimidation and settler violence affecting students and education personnel. Children as young as six had reportedly been exposed to military incursions, tear gas and violence in and around educational facilities. Some institutions also faced demolition, closure and pressure to modify curricula, she noted.?

Ms. Shaheed underscored 蘑菇视频RWA’s indispensable role in education and psychosocial support, particularly for children, including those with disabilities. “The international community has an absolute responsibility to end scholasticide, restore childhoods and ensure the right to education in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” she said, and called for a lasting end to hostilities, protection of educational institutions, rehabilitation and prosthetic support for children with disabilities, sustained psychosocial assistance and robust, predictable and multi-year funding. 蘑菇视频RWA’s role, Ms. Shaheed stressed, must be preserved.?

In a pre-recorded video message, Mr. Muralidhar described human dignity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a long-standing concern that had assumed greater urgency since 7 October 2023. The Commission’s latest report had concluded that in the West Bank, “Israeli security authorities and forces have committed the crimes against humanity of extermination, other inhuman acts, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, and persecution”, and that “their conduct amounts to war crimes and violations of the law of occupation and international human rights law”. Mr. Muralidhar referred to “state-sanctioned settler crimes” as a means of “implementing Israeli state policy” aiming to entrench settlements, annex territory and displace Palestinians from their land.??

He stated that in Gaza the Israeli authorities and security forces “continue to commit genocide” and that “sexual violence continues to be part of a pattern to destroy the Palestinian people”. Similarly, in the West Bank “sexual violence forms part of the widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population”.?

“Human dignity requires more than safety and the ability to survive,” he emphasized. “It requires the freedom and opportunity for individuals and peoples to have agency over their lives and to be able to participate meaningfully in society.” He called on Member States to employ all reasonably available means to prevent and punish genocide, refrain from recognizing the occupation and settlements as lawful, and avoid providing aid or assistance that maintained them. “As long as human dignity remains out of reach for the Palestinian people, our work remains unfinished,” he concluded.??

Mr. Deva focused on what he described as the violation “by design” of the Palestinian people’s right to development. He underscored that the right to development was rooted in struggles for independence, decolonization and a fair international order. Israel’s occupation prevented the Palestinian people from exercising self-determination and fully realizing their right to development. “Occupation hits the very essence of the right to development,” he said.?

He explained that destruction of homes and infrastructure, restrictions on food and water, attacks on health and sanitation systems, movement restrictions, unemployment and deepening poverty all impeded economic, social, political and cultural development. He highlighted the destruction of olive trees in Gaza and attacks against olive farmers in the West Bank as examples of damage to Palestinian livelihoods. He also addressed the environmental consequences of the assault on Gaza, including pollution and degradation of land, water and soil.?

The process of development, he stressed, was as important as its outcomes. He emphasized that Palestinians must participate actively, freely and meaningfully in decisions affecting their political future, governance and reconstruction. The inalienable human right to development of the Palestinian people “does not disappear simply because of its systemic violations by an ongoing occupier.”??

Mr. Deva identified five priorities for realizing the Palestinian people’s right to development: (1) the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and sovereignty over their natural resources must be realized through an end to Israel’s unlawful occupation; (2) “apartheid and racial discrimination” must end; (3) States should redirect resources from war economies towards human development and a “peace economy”; (4) international cooperation should be mobilized to end the occupation, prevent genocide and ensure accountability; and (5) Israel and the States that had caused or contributed to Gaza’s destruction “have an obligation to repair and rebuild”.??

?Discussion??

During the ensuing discussion, the representative of Indonesia expressed alarm at the reported pattern of systemic violence against civilians and civilian infrastructure. Indonesia stressed that a ceasefire must ensure civilian protection, unhindered humanitarian assistance and an end to violence. The representative asked how the 蘑菇视频 human rights mechanisms could better preserve evidence and translate findings into effective protection.?

The representative of Namibia reaffirmed solidarity with the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights, including self-determination. The representative asked what was overlooked when the situation was viewed principally through a humanitarian lens rather than through the broader framework of rights, accountability and self-determination, and how Member States could narrow the gap between documentation and accountability.?

The representative of Senegal expressed concern over forced displacement, military attacks, damage to health and environmental systems, and restrictions on 蘑菇视频RWA and humanitarian actors. Senegal reiterated its support for the Palestinian people and called for stronger international mobilization towards an independent and economically viable State of Palestine.?

The representative of Cuba emphasized that human rights mechanisms must be respected and international law upheld. Cuba condemned attacks on civilians and infrastructure, the deprivation of essential supplies and violations of Palestinian rights to development, health, food and life. The representative reaffirmed Cuba’s support for the Palestinian people and a comprehensive settlement to achieve a just and lasting peace.?

Responding, Ms. Albanese warned that the 蘑菇视频 human rights system was under pressure from financial constraints, citing a “convergence of intent or simply negligence,” and other restrictions affecting the scope of expert reporting. She drew attention to the severe trauma experienced by Palestinian children and called for urgent international intervention. She further urged States to move beyond declarations by ending arms transfers and reassessing trade, military cooperation and surveillance-technology exchanges. She also stressed that discussions of a two-State solution had to be matched by measures to end the occupation.?

Ms. Shaheed stated that 蘑菇视频 experts had extensively documented violations and identified necessary action. Mandate holders, she noted, could investigate, report and recommend, but ultimately depended on States to act. She called for accountability, protection of access to water and food, an end to arms transfers contributing to continued violence and the inclusion of Palestinians in decisions concerning their future.?

Mr. Deva emphasized the value of documenting violations through complementary perspectives. He identified restrictions on mandate holders’ physical access and on independent media as major obstacles to that work. He stressed that people’s immediate needs had to be addressed, but sustainable progress required confronting the root cause: the occupation. He called for stronger use of political, diplomatic, legal and economic tools. He urged greater attention to the role of private actors and the “political economy of conflicts”, noting that conflicts had become profitable for certain companies and States through arms production and contracts linked to destruction and reconstruction. He therefore urged the international community to redirect investment from “war economies” to a “peace economy.”??

Closing

The Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, Minister Riyad Mansour, thanked the Special Rapporteurs and the Commission of Inquiry for documenting violations. He denounced the violation of the host country’s obligations to provide visas to 蘑菇视频 mandate holders and Palestinian representatives. Min. Mansour referred to continuing displacement, home demolitions, arrests, detention, land confiscation and attacks by Israeli forces and settlers, arguing that documenting violations, issuing appeals and condemning unlawful conduct were no longer sufficient. “Now is the time for action,” he said.?

Min. Mansour called on States to align their policies with their public positions: “You cannot say that you are against what Israel is doing to us and you send weapons to Israel to kill us.” He welcomed initial restrictions on arms transfers and sanctions targeting settlements and settler leaders and emphasized that such efforts had to expand into a broader international movement. Drawing on the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, Min. Mansour argued that small individual and institutional actions could accumulate into meaningful political pressure.??

He called for sustained action to consolidate the ceasefire, deliver humanitarian assistance, particularly ahead of winter, support 蘑菇视频RWA and end Israel’s unlawful occupation. He reaffirmed the Palestinian people’s determination to pursue freedom, dignity and independence in a sovereign State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital. “We will not raise the white flags,” Min. Mansour concluded. “We will continue the march, and we count on all of you.”?

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