A powerful internal appeal is shaking up the UN’s human rights office. Hundreds of staff are pushing their chief to call the Gaza crisis a ‘genocide,’ fearing a failure to do so undermines the entire global system. This unprecedented move raises serious questions about international accountability. Will their voices change the official stance?
The global human rights framework faces a critical juncture as hundreds of United Nations staff members have issued a powerful appeal to their chief, Volker Turk, urging him to publicly label the ongoing situation in Gaza as a “genocide.” This unprecedented internal pressure highlights profound concerns that the organization’s failure to adopt this assessment risks severely undermining its credibility and the broader global rights protection system.
The urgent plea was formalized in a letter, clandestinely obtained by Al Jazeera, which was signed by the Staff Committee on behalf of over 500 employees within the Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Sent to Turk earlier this week, the letter underscores a deep-seated apprehension among staff regarding the humanitarian crisis and its legal classification.
Within the ranks of OHCHR staff, a broad consensus has emerged, suggesting that the stringent legal criteria for a genocide accusation have been met in the context of Israel’s nearly two-year military operations in the Gaza conflict. This assessment is reportedly based on extensive and credible reporting by various UN human rights mechanisms, alongside findings from independent expert analyses.
The concerned OHCHR staff expressed a strong conviction that the Office has a crucial responsibility to reflect this grave assessment more explicitly in its public communications. They articulated fears that any reluctance to do so could significantly erode the OHCHR’s standing as a preeminent authority on human rights universally, questioning its commitment to upholding international law.
Adding to the institutional anxiety, the letter conveyed a “profound frustration” among staff over the immense scale and horrific nature of reported violations and their devastating impact, particularly on vulnerable civilians, including women and children. A stark historical parallel was drawn to the UN’s perceived “silence” during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an event often cited as one of the organization’s most significant moral failures, serving as a cautionary tale against inaction.
The document further asserted that the OHCHR bears a fundamental legal and moral obligation to unequivocally denounce acts of genocide. It argued that a failure to decisively condemn an unfolding genocide not only compromises the integrity of the UN human rights system but also diminishes the broader credibility of the United Nations itself on the global stage, especially concerning the Gaza conflict.
Tragically, the human toll of the conflict remains staggering. Data from the Gaza Ministry of Health indicates that at least 62,966 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 160,000 wounded. Compounding the crisis, over 300 individuals, including 121 children, have succumbed to starvation, with famine now officially confirmed in parts of the besieged enclave, painting a grim picture of humanitarian catastrophe.
In response to the unprecedented staff appeal, Reuters reported that Volker Turk acknowledged the gravity of the concerns raised. He reportedly expressed shared “moral indignation at the horrors we are witnessing” and “frustration in the face of the international community’s inability to bring this situation to an end,” urging staff to remain unified amidst such profound adversity.
Meanwhile, Israel has consistently rejected all genocide accusations concerning its actions in Gaza. The nation maintains that its military operations are conducted strictly in accordance with its right to self-defence, directly responding to the deadly Hamas attacks in October 2023, which resulted in 1,139 fatalities and the abduction of over 200 individuals.
