Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship Silvio Almeida stated on Monday 26th that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is promoting “collective punishment” against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The speech at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council is Brazil's first after Israel declared President Lula (PT) persona non grata for comparing the war in Gaza to the Holocaust.
“I reiterate our rejection of the blatant disproportionate use of force by the Israeli government, a form of “collective punishment” that has already cost the lives of nearly 30,000 Palestinians most of them women and children and forcibly displaced more. “More than 80% of the population of the Gaza Strip and thousands of civilians have no access to electricity, drinking water, food and basic humanitarian assistance,” the minister said in Geneva.
The minister also demanded that Israel comply with the orders of the International Court of Justice to prevent genocide.
“We urge Israel to fully comply with the emergency measures ordered by the court [da ONU]in the sense that serious human rights violations stop,” he explained.
He also stated that the creation of a free and sovereign Palestinian state coexisting with the State of Israel was “an essential prerequisite for peace” and he hoped that the Council would recognize that the Israeli occupation was illegal and contrary to international norms violate.
“We consider it the duty of this Council to respect the selfdetermination of peoples, to seek a peaceful solution to conflicts and to vigorously combat all forms of neocolonialism and apartheid,” he added.
Read the speech in full:
Speech Minister Silvio Almeida CDH Geneva 2024