UN calls for Tolerance and Respect for the Dignity of All Human Beings in response to Terror Attacks by Sergio Vieira De Mello 7:09pm 18th May, 2003   UN's top human rights official 'outraged' by terrorist attacks in Casablanca.    17 May – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today joined UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in deploring the recent terrorist attacks which rocked Casablanca.    Sergio Vieira de Mello was "outraged and saddened" to learn that terrorist bombings killed dozens of people last night in Casablanca, according to a statement released to the press. Emphasizing that there is no excuse for such acts, he observed that "terrorism is aimed at nothing more than the destruction of our most basic and cherished human rights, chief among them the right to life."    "Such wanton violence will only reinforce international determination to counter terrorism," the High Commissioner pledged.    Calling for a redoubling of collective efforts to combat this scourge, the High Commissioner said terrorists must be "found, prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law." He urged religious, political and community leaders around the world to "demonstrate courage in sending, loudly and clearly, the unequivocal message that no motivation or grievance can justify the shedding of innocent blood."    Mr. Vieira de Mello also called tolerance and respect for the dignity of all human beings "the best vaccine" against hatred and violence.    Through the statement, the High Commissioner extended his sympathy to Morocco and to the families of the victims.    UN human rights chief condemns suicide bombings against Israelis    19 May – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, today condemned the weekend suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, saying such acts “serve only to destroy innocent civilian life and demonstrate the utterly repugnant nature of terrorism.”    At the same time, Mr. Vieira de Mello expressed his concern over the number of Palestinian civilians killed in recent days and called on Israel to “act in conformity with its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law and to ensure the safety of civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories.”    In a statement issued in Geneva reaffirming his total repudiation of all acts of violence targeting innocent civilians, he echoed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call on the Palestinian leadership “to do everything in its power to de-legitimize and stop terrorism.” Mr. Annan yesterday called on both sides not to allow such incidents to derail the peace process.    Calling the attacks a direct assault on efforts to achieve progress on the latest Road Map peace plan foreseeing two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side, Mr. Vieira de Mello concluded: “Israel and the Palestinian leadership must do their utmost to break the cycle of violence and ensure that peace, built on a solid foundation of full respect for human rights, becomes a reality.”    UN agencies, NGOs protest Israel's closure of Gaza border    19 May – United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have called on Israel to immediately re-open the border into Gaza to all their members, protesting "in the strongest terms" against a closure that they said crippled their aid efforts for 1.2 million Palestinians and was in direct contravention of international law.    "We fully respect Israel's security concerns," the six UN agencies and 12 NGOs said yesterday in a joint statement. "But we firmly reject the clear implication of the measures imposed at the Erez crossing for the last month that UN officials and international aid workers constitute a security threat to the State of Israel or its citizens."    Noting that Israel partially lifted the closure for a few staff on Saturday, the statement added: "We call on the Israeli authorities to reopen the Erez crossing immediately, on a 24 hour-a-day basis, for all international staff members of all United Nations organizations and of all other international humanitarian and development agencies operating in the Gaza Strip."    It said the closure had made the operations of all UN agencies, NGOs and other humanitarian and development organizations unreasonably difficult, inefficient and costly, adding: "If these new restrictions persist, a number of international and non-governmental humanitarian organizations may be forced to stop their operations in the Gaza Strip."    Saying it was not clear why Israel had imposed the "unprecedented" restrictions, the 18 organizations declared: "The restrictions are violations of applicable international law and, in many cases, bilateral agreements between the Government of Israel and the agencies concerned."    They noted that they went against undertakings on humanitarian access given in August by Israel to Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Personal Humanitarian Envoy, Catherine Bertini, concluding: "We are further disturbed that these restrictions come at a time when the Government of Israel is promising publicly to ease the plight of the population in the occupied Palestinian territory and to support humanitarian relief efforts.    "If the Government of Israel is serious about wishing to support our humanitarian efforts, these restrictions should be lifted immediately."    The signatories included the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Médecins sans Frontières, Médecins du Monde, Pharmaciens sans Frontières - Comité International, OXFAM GB, Care International, MERLIN, Enfants Refugiés du Monde, Solidaridad Internacional, Centro Regionale d'Intervento per la Cooperazione (CRIC), Movement for Peace, Disarmament and Liberty, UNA International Service (UK) and World Vision    Road Map may be last chance at Middle East peace for 'long time' - UN envoy    Terje Roed-Larsen briefs Council    19 May – The Road Map peace plan may be the last chance to achieve a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict for a very long time, since ongoing Palestinian terror radicalizes both communities while Israeli settlement expansion makes creation of a viable Palestinian state ever more difficult, the senior United Nations envoy to the region, Terje Roed-Larsen, told the Security Council today.    In a briefing to an open session of the Council, Mr. Roed-Larsen, UN Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, called the latest suicide bombings against Israel "senseless acts that are unjustified on any moral or political grounds" while Israeli roadblocks and checkpoints were "the single largest impediment to the Palestinian economy," contributing to a huge increase in poverty and unemployment.    The Road Map devised by the diplomatic Quartet - the UN, United States, Russian Federation and European Union - calls for a series of parallel steps by both sides over the next three years towards realizing the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security.    "The Palestinian Authority must bring those involved in planning and carrying out these attacks to justice," Mr. Roed-Larsen said. "Under the first phase of the Road Map, the Palestinian Authority is obligated to 'undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere.'"    The question of security reform was an area "in which the Palestinian Authority has tragically failed over the past two years," he added.    For its part, under the first phase of the Road Map, "Israel is required to take 'no actions undermining trust, including…attacks on civilians' and 'confiscation and/or demolition of Palestinian homes and property as a punitive measure,'" he declared. "Yet the killings of Palestinian civilians and destruction of their property continues."    He said closures and curfews continued to dominate the reality of most people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where poverty rates increased from about 25 per cent in 1998 to 60 per cent in 2002, and unemployment over the last two years rose from 20 per cent to 53 per cent, according to conservative estimates. Since the current crisis started in 2002, the closure had led to Palestinian losses of $5.4 billion - one year's worth of national income.    Mr. Roed-Larsen said Israel's current restrictions on the entry of UN humanitarian staff to Gaza severely hampered the UN's ability to provide needed assistance to the 1.2 million Palestinians there, two-thirds of them refugees dependent on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for health, education and social services.    He was having further meetings with Israeli authorities to try to resolve this issue, he added, but if they failed "we would expect that if Israel effectively prevents the UN from working, it would recognize and accept its obligation" as the Occupying Power to provide the needed assistance to the Palestinian people of Gaza.    “The Road Map might not be a flawless document, but I believe that it is the best chance to achieve peace that is available,” Mr. Roed-Larsen stated. “In addition, it may well be the last chance for the parties to achieve a two-state solution for a very long time.    “Two factors contribute to this belief. First, continuing Palestinian terror contributes to the radicalisation of the peoples of both communities. It is difficult to imagine that a continuing cycle of violence would make the Israelis and Palestinians more willing to make peace in the near future.    “Second, Israel’s ongoing expansion of settlements, construction of the separation wall, and other public works projects in the West bank would, over time, make the creation of a viable Palestinian state, part of which would be on the West Bank, more and more difficult.” Visit the related web page
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