Al Mezan concluded its participation in the 59th regular session United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, held in Geneva from 16 June to 9 July 2025. Throughout the session, Al Mezan delivered multiple oral interventions and co-organized a dedicated side event, consistently calling on the international community to take urgent and concrete action to end Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and ensure accountability for grave violations of international law.
Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on OPT/Israel
On 17 June 2025, during the Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, Al Mezan and the Community Action Community at Al-Quds University commended the Commission for its rigorous work and continuous reporting. In our joint intervention, we emphasized:
“How many more authoritative reports by respected UN bodies are needed before Member States act? How many more findings of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide must be delivered before Israel is held to account? The people of Gaza are not dying from a lack of evidence. They are dying from a lack of accountability. We call on Member States to act: stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza, put an end to its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory, and ensure accountability for all crimes committed.”
Interactive Dialogues with the Special Rapporteurs on Health and IDPs
On 19 June 2025, Al Mezan and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) delivered a joint statement during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng. The statement responded to the Special Rapporteur’s latest report, ‘Health and Care Workers as Defenders of the Right to Health’. In January 2025, MAP and Al Mezan jointly submitted evidence informing the Special Rapporteur’s report, detailing the pattern of targeted attacks and reprisals by the Israeli military against Gaza’s health sector and healthcare workers.
On the following day, 20 June 2025, Al Mezan addressed the catastrophic conditions of nearly two million internally displaced Palestinians in Gaza during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Ms. Paula Gaviria Betancur. We emphasized that approximately 82 percent of Gaza has been placed under Israeli displacement orders or turned into militarized no-go zones. The statement unequivocally condemned Israel’s policies of mass displacement as part of a broader strategy to alter Gaza’s demographic composition permanently and called for urgent international action to ensure protection, humanitarian access, and accountability.
On 23 June 2025, during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Al Mezan issued a strong statement criticizing the UN Office on Genocide Prevention for its inaction and failure to fulfill its mandate in the context of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, noting that, since October 2023, the Office only issued a handful of public statements that failed to reflect the gravity of the situation in Gaza or to meaningfully alert UN Member States of their legal and moral duty to prevent genocide.
“As I speak, Israel is destroying the Palestinian people in Gaza. The scale and intent of this destruction demand that the UN Office on Genocide Prevention speak loudly, clearly, and unequivocally. In the face of genocide, your silence is a dereliction of duty that disregards the very mandate your Office was established to fulfill and undermines the credibility of the entire genocide prevention framework.”
Joint Side Event on Israel’s Siege, Engineered Starvation, and Weaponization of Humanitarian Aid in Gaza
On 3 July 2025, Al Mezan participated in a joint side event organized with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and Euro-Med Rights titled ‘Israel’s Genocide in Gaza: Siege, Engineered Starvation, and the Weaponization of Humanitarian Aid’. The opening remarks were delivered by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Mr. Michael Fakhri.
In his intervention, Al Mezan’s Director emphasized the man-made humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza as a direct result of Israel’s ongoing genocidal military campaign and blockade. He described how the systematic destruction of life-sustaining civilian infrastructure, the obstruction of humanitarian aid, and the deliberate targeting of vital resources amount to the use of starvation as a method of warfare and to the intentional imposition of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinian people as part of Israel’s ongoing genocide. “Time in Gaza is being counted differently,” he stated, “counted in the number of people who lost their lives, in bags of flour and drops of water. Palestinians are being considered not worthy of international justice—and this needs to stop now.” He called on the international community not only to condemn these actions but to take urgent and concrete steps to uphold international legal obligations and prevent further atrocities.
Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on OPT
On the same day, Al Mezan’s Director attended the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967, during which she presented to the Human Rights Council her latest report titled ‘From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’.
Al Mezan strongly endorses the Special Rapporteur’s report, which exposes how business enterprises, multinational corporations, and for-profit and not-for-profit entities have not only historically profited from Israel’s unlawful occupation and apartheid but are now actively profiting from and fueling Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Al Mezan expresses its deep appreciation to the Special Rapporteur for her vital and courageous work in exposing corporate complicity in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people. We call on all states to urgently respond to these findings by examining the ties between corporate entities operating under their jurisdiction and Israel’s unlawful actions. States must implement measures to prevent any corporate involvement in or benefit from Israel’s occupation, apartheid, or genocide.
We strongly oppose the United States’ reprisals against an independent expert appointed by the Human Rights Council. These reprisals are a testament to the significance of the Special Rapporteur’s latest findings and the impact of her unwavering advocacy work. Al Mezan stands in full solidarity with the Special Rapporteur. We call on the UN Secretary-General to publicly demonstrate solidarity and support, and urge all States to firmly and unequivocally denounce and reject this act, which is an attack on the legitimacy of the entire global human rights system and is part of a broader effort by the United States to undermine the UN system and obstruct avenues of accountability for grave international crimes.
