{"id":320798,"date":"2026-11-06T13:12:24","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T18:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=320798"},"modified":"2026-11-09T12:38:54","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T17:38:54","slug":"chair-summary-431-meeting-29oct26","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/chair-summary-431-meeting-29oct26\/","title":{"rendered":"Chair Summary: \u201cHuman Dignity Under Strain\u201d \u2013 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Palestine Committee 431st Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0431st Meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cHuman Dignity Under Strain\u201d: Briefing on the Humanitarian<\/span><\/i><\/b> \u00a0<\/span>and Human Rights Consequences in the Occupied Palestinian Territory<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a029 October 2026\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n

CHAIR SUMMARY<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On 29 October 2026, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People convened its 431<\/span>st<\/span> meeting on the theme <\/span>\u201cHuman Dignity Under Strain: The Humanitarian and Human Rights Consequences in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.\u201d<\/span><\/b> The event featured briefings by <\/span>Ms. Francesca Albanese<\/a><\/span><\/b>, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967; <\/span>Ms. Farida Shaheed<\/a><\/span><\/b>, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Special Rapporteur on the right to education; <\/span>Mr. Surya Deva<\/a><\/span><\/b>, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Special Rapporteur on the right to development; and <\/span>Mr. Srinivasan Muralidhar<\/a><\/span><\/b>, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The meeting was chaired by the <\/span>Vice-Chair of the Committee and Permanent Representative of Malaysia, Ambassador Nadzirah Binti Osman<\/span><\/b>. 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In her briefing, <\/span>Ms. Albanese<\/span><\/b> argued that the denial of her visa reflected a broader challenge facing the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system and multilateralism. Presenting the main findings of her latest <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> \u201cTruth Under the Rubble: Media in the Time of Genocide\u201d, she stated that \u201cdestruction of truth has become part of the destruction of a people\u201d. She outlined what she defined as \u201cmediacide\u201d: 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. \u201cWhen witnesses are eliminated and evidence is erased, the crime is not only committed, it is concealed, and impunity becomes part of the plan,\u201d she said. She also highlighted the devastating impact of the war on Gaza\u2019s 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019 inadequate response and continued arms transfers and relations that, in her assessment, sustained Israel\u2019s unlawful occupation and alleged violations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Albanese emphasized the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA) as a lifeline of millions of Palestine refugees and the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza.<\/span> She condemned attacks on the Agency\u2019s premises and personnel, restrictions on its operations, and allegations that had led several donors to suspend funding.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u201cstarved, smeared and sanctioned into silence.\u201d She called on States to implement relevant <\/span>orders<\/span><\/a> of the International Court of Justice and General Assembly <\/span>resolutions<\/span><\/a>, suspend arms transfers and trade sustaining the unlawful occupation, protect and fund Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA, safeguard journalists and preserve evidence for accountability. \u201cDo not forget the people of Palestine,\u201d she concluded. \u201cHistory will ask what each of us did. Let our answer not be that we just watched.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Shaheed <\/span><\/b>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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She described the destruction of the Palestinian education system as \u201cscholasticide,\u201d or \u201cthe systemic and systematic obliteration of education\u201d, which \u201caims to dismantle the very foundation of Palestinian society, erase their history, and destroy a sense of collective self\u201d. She stressed that education provided stability amid conflict and sustained children\u2019s 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\u2019s physical and cognitive development. Palestinian students had told her: \u201cOur childhood has been stolen.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Shaheed underscored Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s indispensable role in education and psychosocial support, particularly for children, including those with disabilities. \u201cThe international community has an absolute responsibility to end scholasticide, restore childhoods and ensure the right to education in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,\u201d 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. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s role, Ms. Shaheed stressed, must be preserved.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a pre-recorded video message, <\/span>Mr. Muralidhar<\/span><\/b> described human dignity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a long-standing concern that had assumed greater urgency since 7 October 2023. The Commission\u2019s latest <\/span>report<\/a> had concluded<\/span> that in the West Bank, \u201cIsraeli 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\u201d, and that \u201ctheir conduct amounts to war crimes and violations of the law of occupation and international human rights law\u201d. Mr. Muralidhar referred to \u201cstate-sanctioned settler crimes\u201d as a means of \u201cimplementing Israeli state policy\u201d aiming to entrench settlements, annex territory and displace Palestinians from their land.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He stated that in Gaza the Israeli authorities and security forces \u201ccontinue to commit genocide\u201d and that \u201csexual violence continues to be part of a pattern to destroy the Palestinian people\u201d. Similarly, in the West Bank \u201csexual violence forms part of the widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHuman dignity requires more than safety and the ability to survive,\u201d he emphasized. \u201cIt requires the freedom and opportunity for individuals and peoples to have agency over their lives and to be able to participate meaningfully in society.\u201d 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. \u201cAs long as human dignity remains out of reach for the Palestinian people, our work remains unfinished,\u201d he concluded.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Deva<\/span><\/b> focused on what he described as the violation \u201cby design\u201d of the Palestinian people\u2019s right to development. He underscored that the right to development was rooted in struggles for independence, decolonization and a fair international order. Israel\u2019s occupation prevented the Palestinian people from exercising self-determination and fully realizing their right to development. \u201cOccupation hits the very essence of the right to development,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u201cdoes not disappear simply because of its systemic violations by an ongoing occupier.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Deva identified five priorities for realizing the Palestinian people\u2019s right to development: (1) the Palestinian people\u2019s right to self-determination and sovereignty over their natural resources must be realized through an end to Israel\u2019s unlawful occupation; (2) \u201capartheid and racial discrimination\u201d must end; (3) States should redirect resources from war economies towards human development and a \u201cpeace economy\u201d; (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\u2019s destruction \u201chave an obligation to repair and rebuild\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/span>Discussion<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

During the ensuing discussion, the <\/span>representative of Indonesia<\/span><\/b> 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 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ human rights mechanisms could better preserve evidence and translate findings into effective protection.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>representative of Namibia<\/span><\/b> 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>representative of Senegal<\/span><\/b> expressed concern over forced displacement, military attacks, damage to health and environmental systems, and restrictions on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>representative of Cuba<\/span><\/b> 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\u2019s support for the Palestinian people and a comprehensive settlement to achieve a just and lasting peace.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Responding, <\/span>Ms.<\/span><\/b> Albanese<\/span><\/b> warned that the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ human rights system was under pressure from financial constraints, citing a \u201cconvergence of intent or simply negligence,\u201d 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms<\/span><\/b>. <\/span>Shaheed<\/span><\/b> stated that Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Deva<\/span><\/b> emphasized the value of documenting violations through complementary perspectives. He identified restrictions on mandate holders\u2019 physical access and on independent media as major obstacles to that work. He stressed that people\u2019s 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 \u201cpolitical economy of conflicts\u201d, 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 \u201cwar economies\u201d to a \u201cpeace economy.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Closing<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

The <\/span>Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, Minister Riyad Mansour, thanked<\/span><\/b> the Special Rapporteurs and the Commission of Inquiry for documenting violations. He denounced the violation of the host country\u2019s obligations to provide visas to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ 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. \u201cNow is the time for action,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Min. Mansour called on States to align their policies with their public positions: \u201cYou cannot say that you are against what Israel is doing to us and you send weapons to Israel to kill us.\u201d 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He called for sustained action to consolidate the ceasefire, deliver humanitarian assistance, particularly ahead of winter, support Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA and end Israel\u2019s unlawful occupation. He reaffirmed the Palestinian people\u2019s determination to pursue freedom, dignity and independence in a sovereign State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital. \u201cWe will not raise the white flags,\u201d Min. Mansour concluded. \u201cWe will continue the march, and we count on all of you.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

* * *<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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