It has been more than a century of Palestinian oppression by a brutal occupation with tremendous systematic human rights and humanitarian law abuses. However, all our efforts to raise awareness of these violations are void if no genuine actions are taken to enable the Palestinian people to achieve their right of self-determination and be free from this long occupation.

We welcome the report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Libya and while looking forward to its adoption, we express our concern over the persisting human rights violations and serious breaches of international law that have caused hundreds of civilian casualties.

International-Lawyers.org and Geneva International Centre for Justice urge the United Nations, other relevant actors, and the international community to act urgently to achieve stability in Mali as cooperation and solidarity are necessary to achieve justice.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the persistence of racial inequality across all levels of society. Racism enhances the impacts of other man-made challenges such as poverty and climate change. As we begin the second half of the International Decade for People of African Descent, governments must go beyond words and take action. To fight racism is to fight for social justice.

We call on the Human Right Council to accelerate progress towards peace and justice in order to strengthen democracy and sustainable development.

The authors of this statement draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to Israel’s ongoing human rights violations in East Jerusalem, which must be recognised as systematic efforts to alter the status, character, demographic and geological structure of Jerusalem.

As the COVID-19 pandemic plagues the world, those most vulnerable continue to face the brunt of its devastation. Such is the situation for Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which is already characterised with a weak health system and inadequate health care, wholly unprepared for COVID-19.