International Day in Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Each year on November 29, the United Nations and the international community observe the International Day in Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The World YWCA, as a member of the Middle East Working Group with Focus on Palestine, will present a statement to the United Nations on November 29 calling upon UN member states and civil society to take action to stop the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands, and to stand up for the rule of international law and international human rights and humanitarian law.
The statement notes that similar observations have been made for 33 years and poses the question – Why? There have been many resolutions, but little progress. The people of Palestine continue to be denied their basic, inalienable, human rights and the peace talks and negotiations have led nowhere.
The signatories express that it is time to solve the problem with a new mind. It is crucial that the international community and the bodies of the United Nations take coherent, practical steps to urge Israel to fulfil its international human rights obligations and to implement all UN resolutions that pertain to the conflict. It is also a fact that as long as other states continue to enable Israel in its occupation and military interventions, nothing will change.
The signatories therefore propose that a change be made to those that are sitting around the peace and negotiations table, and that it is time to involve women and peace-minded organisations that are committed to the implementation of SCR 1325 in the peace-building process.
- Signatories to the statement include the following members of the Middle East Working Group with Focus on Palestine:
- General Arab Women Federation (GAWF)
- General Federation of Iraqi Women
- International Association of Democratic Lawyers
- Union of Arab Jurists
- Union of Arab Lawyers
- Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
- World Young Women's Christian Association (World YWCA)
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