Ambassador of Pakistan to France Asim Iftikhar Ahmad addressed the Eighth Special Session of the UNESCO Executive Board wherein he drew the international community’s attention to the unabated Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, particularly the plight of students, and called for the accountability of Israel’s war crimes.
The ambassador also reiterated Pakistan’s support for continued and unimpeded operations of UNRWA for Palestinian refugees as Pakistan joined other delegations in requesting the Eighth Special Session of the UNESCO’s Executive Board to support the continuity of UNRWA’s educational activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“Nowhere else in the world today has education been attacked to a level seen in Gaza. With the entire student population impacted, around 10,000 students killed and another 15,000 injured, mostly children, to over 400 teachers killed and more than 2,400 injured, almost the entire educational infrastructure including school buildings having been entirely or partially destroyed, the loss of human lives and scale of destruction are unimaginable,” he remarked.
The ambassador further said that nowhere else in the world today has international law, including international humanitarian law, been violated with the level of impunity as that enjoyed by Israel – the occupying power.
He said that the prolonged blockade and denial of humanitarian assistance as well as deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers and organizations were clearly designed to inflict maximum pain and suffering on the civilian populations – indeed war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He told the gathering that a devastating number of UNRWA’s staff members – 247 personnel have been killed to date.
This is the highest number ever recorded in the history of the United Nations, exceeding losses in any other war zone or natural disaster, he said.
With overlapping objectives and priorities, UNESCO has a long history of cooperation with UNRWA in the field of education, having provided significant strategic and technical support to the design and delivery of its schools and vocational training programs for over 7 decades. We cannot allow that important work, that capacity and that contribution over the years to be erased by bombs and missiles, or blocked by any unlawful legislation by the occupying power.
“Education, as a fundamental right, cannot be politicized or denied, especially to those most vulnerable. The attempts to ban UNRWA must not be tolerated. This is a direct affront to UNESCO’s mandate and the broader commitments of the United Nations on SDG 4 and refugees.”
Ambassador also underlined Israel’s international obligation as the occupying power, to uphold and respect UNRWA’s mandate and ensure its continuity without hindrance or interference, while noting that there was no alternative to UNRWA. Any interruption or suspension of its work would have severe humanitarian consequences for millions of Palestinian refugees.
The invisibility, the unexplained silence and unwillingness of the Secretariat leadership to fulfill its responsibilities in these times of unprecedented crises, was unfortunate, he observed. It was also regrettable that the invitation was not extended in a timely manner to the Head of UNRWA to brief the session despite the specific request and provision in the rules of procedure, he added.
“We cannot, however, allow the reputation and credibility of the organization to be questioned and damaged. Member States must continue to undertake their responsibility.”
Ambassador Asim reiterated Pakistan’s call, together with the international community, for an immediate, complete, durable and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and reaffirmed its longstanding position in support of the Palestinian peoples’ right to self-determination and the establishment of a sovereign, independent State of Palestine, in accordance with relevant UN resolutions, with pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
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