The Jordan National NGOs Forum (JONAF) and other civil society institutions and human rights activists Tuesday appealed to the international community to protect women, children and men in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories from ongoing Israeli attacks.
“Members of the JONAF coalition and the Jordanian National Commission for Women, along with many human rights activists and civil society organizations in Jordan, call upon the international community and supporters of women’s rights to activate immediately Article 9 of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) to protect the rights of women, children and men in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories,’ the forum said in a press release.
“As innocent civilians are being killed by excessive retaliatory measures by the Israeli military, let us be reminded that Article 9 of UNSCR 1325 calls upon all parties to an armed conflict to respect fully international law applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls, especially as civilians, in particular the obligations applicable to them under the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols thereto of 1977, the Refugee Convention of 1951 and the Protocol thereto of 1967, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 1979 and the Optional Protocol thereto of 1999 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and the two Optional Protocols thereto of 25 May 2000, and to bear in mind the relevant provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” it stated.
“UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security is based on four main pillars: participation, protection, prevention, and relief and recovery. For the past 73 years, we have seen our Palestinian sisters facing oppression every day, getting beaten up and arrested for practicing their right to peaceful protests to protect themselves and their families from displacement,” said the statement.
UNSCR 1325 also stresses the need to include – and thus empower – local women in conflict resolution, it noted, adding that “as the conflict and occupation continue, and the suffering of Palestinian refugees worsens, it is essential to recognize resistance as a human right and as a means to achieve comprehensive and just peace based on women’s and men’s political agency. It is time to do more than just having nominal women representation, with no real participation. To achieve just solutions, the value of women leading the resistance against systematic oppression must be acknowledged.”
The statement called on donor nations, the UN secretary general and the Security Council to adopt consistent and gender sensitive approaches enabling accountability and ensuring the protection of human rights of women and children in Palestine, in accordance with the protection principles enshrined in UNSCR 1325.
“Conflicts are not a choice for civilians who endure them, and do not distinguish among nationalities,” it said, warning that without a serious commitment to protect the rights of women and children in Palestine, the credibility of UNSCR 1325 and its national iteration through JONAP is at risk.
The statement called on the international community to work toward ending conflicts and occupation, and preserving the safety and security of Palestinians, and to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law, war crimes and the discrimination and ethnic cleansing committed against Palestinians since 1948.
Source: Jordan News Agency