PITS News

NO MORE WAR: Stop the killing in Gaza

08/01/2001

FIJI’s NGO Coalition on Human Rights joins human rights activists from around the world in condemning the merciless Israeli military attack against the Gaza strip. The world has watched in horror as Palestinian civilians, particularly children, have been slaughtered over the past two weeks in the sustained attack against one of the world’s most densely populated areas.

“We are appalled that world leaders and the UN Security Council have done nothing to halt this extreme violence against a marginalised population, more than half of which are children. We call on our Pacific leaders, and leaders from around the world, in particular influential nations such as the United States, to uphold international law and human rights - which impose binding obligations on all parties in situations of armed conflict - to stop the carnage in Gaza,” said NGOCHR Chair, Virisila Buadromo.

“We do not condone any violence, including the home-made rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. However, this cannot possibly justify the full-scale military offensive against the people of the Gaza strip; people who are trapped with nowhere to run by the Israeli blockade of the last 18 months.”

Commentators are also concerned that the war in Gaza will lead to a full-blown humanitarian disaster. As it is, the blockade of the Gaza strip over the last year and a half, which stifled aid, food, medicine and fuel supplies, has lead to malnutrition amongst children and critical shortages of essential items.

“It is up to all of us as fellow humans to bear witness to the atrocities in Gaza and to speak out in solidarity with other human rights defenders around the world to demand a peaceful alternative to war,” Buadromo said.

The NGO Coalition on Human Rights is a coalition of civil society organisations that works towards a Fiji that respects and protects human rights and fundamental freedoms within the framework of the rule of law.

For more information contact NGOCHR Chair, Virisila Buadromo (679-9249906)



© 1998 University of the South Pacific

PacLII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback| Report an error