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Greg Grandin, grandin@nyu.edu
Adrienne Pine, 202-652-5601
93 scholars
and Latin America experts from institutions such as Yale, Harvard, and
New York University sent an open letter to Human Rights Watch today
urging the organization to highlight various human rights violations in
Honduras under the coup regime, and to conduct its own investigation.
The signers, who include well-known experts on Latin America such as
Eric Hershberg, John Womack, Jr., and Greg Grandin, Honduras experts
such as Dana Frank and Adrienne Pine, and well-known authors including
Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, and Naomi Klein, note that Human Rights
Watch could help force the Obama administration to denounce the abuses
and put greater pressure on the regime. Highlighting
"politically-motivated killings, hundreds of arbitrary detentions, the
violent repression of unarmed demonstrators, mass arrests of political
opposition, and other violations of basic human rights," the letter
notes that Human Rights Watch has not issued a statement or release on
the situation in Honduras since July 8, a little over a week following
the June 28 coup d'etat.
The signers write, "...the coup could easily be overturned, if the Obama
administration sought to do so, by taking more decisive measures, such
as canceling all U.S. visas and freezing U.S. bank accounts of leaders
of the coup regime."
The letter comes just a day after Amnesty International issued a new report on the coup regime's violations of human
rights in cracking down on protests, and as the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (part of the Organization of American
States) wraps up a fact-finding delegation to Honduras. The author of
the Amnesty International report, Esther Major, has stated
that the report was
released to call on the international community to take action to
"prevent a human rights crisis occurring in Honduras."
The full text of the letter follows:
August 21, 2009
Kenneth Roth
Executive Director
Human Rights Watch
Dear Mr. Roth,
We are deeply concerned by the absence of statements and reports from
your organization over the serious and systematic human rights abuses
that have been committed under the Honduran coup regime over the past
six weeks. It is disappointing to see that in the weeks since July 8,
when Human Rights Watch issued its most recent press release on
Honduras [1], that it has not raised the alarm over the
extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detentions, physical assaults, and
attacks on the press - many of which have been thoroughly documented -
that have occurred in Honduras, in most cases by the coup regime
against the supporters of the democratic and constitutional government
of Manuel Zelaya. We call on your organization to fulfill your
important role as a guardian of universal human rights and condemn,
strongly and forcefully, the ongoing abuses being committed by the
illegal regime in Honduras. We also ask that you conduct your own
investigation of these crimes.
While Human Rights Watch [2] was quick to condemn the illegal coup
d'etat of June 28 and the human rights violations that occurred over
the following week, which helped shine the spotlight of international
media on these abuses, the absence of statements from your organization
since the week following the coup has contributed to the failure of
international media to report on subsequent abuses.
The coup regime's violent repression in Honduras has not stopped.
Well-respected human rights organizations in Honduras, such as the
Committee for the Relatives of the Disappeared Detainees (COFADEH), and international human rights monitors have documented a series of
politically-motivated killings, hundreds of arbitrary detentions, the
violent repression of unarmed demonstrators, mass arrests of political
opposition, and other violations of basic human rights under the coup
regime. The killing of anti-coup activists has beendocumented in pressreports,
bringing to a total of ten people known or suspected to have been
killed in connection to their political activities. Press freedom
watchdogs such as Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to
Protect Journalists have issued releases decrying the regime's attacks
and threats against various journalists and the temporary closure and
military occupation of news outlets. Various NGO's have issued alerts
regarding the politically motivated threats to individuals, and concern
for people detained by the regime, but no such statements have come
from Human Rights Watch.
This situation is all the more tragic in that the coup could easily be
overturned, if the Obama administration sought to do so, by taking more
decisive measures, such as canceling all U.S. visas and freezing U.S.
bank accounts of leaders of the coup regime. Yet not only does the
administration continue to prop up the regime with aid money through
the Millennium Challenge Account and other sources, but the U.S.
continues to train Honduran military students at the Western
Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) - the
notorious institution formerly known as the School of the Americas. If
the coup were overturned, and the democratically elected government
restored, it is clear that the many rampant human rights abuses would
immediately cease. If Human Rights Watch would raise its voice, it
would be much more difficult for the Obama administration to ignore
Honduras' human rights situation and maintain financial and other
support for its illegal regime.
We know that there are, sadly, innumerable urgent human rights crises
around the world, all of which require your attention. Addressing the
deteriorating situation in Honduras, however, is of paramount
importance given its potential to serve as a precedent for other coups
and the rise of other dictatorships, not just in Honduras, but
throughout the region. History has shown that such coups leave deep
scars on societies, and that far too often they have led to the rise of
some of history's most notorious rights abusers, such as in Pinochet's
Chile, Videla's Argentina, and Cedras' Haiti, to name but a few. As
human rights defenders with extensive experience in dealing with the
appalling human consequences of these regimes, Human Rights Watch is
clearly well placed to understand the urgency of condemning the
Honduran regime's abuses and to helping ensure the coup is overturned,
that democracy is restored, and that political repression and other
human rights abuses are stopped. Your colleagues in the Honduran human
rights community are counting on you, as are the Honduran people. We
hope you will raise your voice on Honduras.
Sincerely,
Leisy Abrego
University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow
UC Irvine
Paul Almeida
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
Texas A&M University
Alejandro Alvarez Bejar
Professor, Economic Faculty
UNAM-Mexico
Tim Anderson
Senior Lecturer in Political Economy
University of Sydney
Australia
Anthony Arnove
Author and Editor
Brooklyn, NY
Marc Becker
Truman State University
Kirksville, MO
Marjorie Becker
Associate professor, Department of History
University of Southern California
John Beverley
Professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature and Cultural Studies
University of Pittsburgh
Larry Birns
Director, Council on Hemispheric Affairs
Washington, DC
Jefferson Boyer
Professor of Anthropology (ethnography of Honduras)
Appalachian State University
Jules Boykoff
Associate Professor of Political Science
Pacific University
Edward T. Brett
Professor of History
La Roche College, Pittsburgh, PA
Renate Bridenthal
Professor of History, Emerita
Brooklyn College, CUNY
Bob Buzzanco
Professor of History
University of Houston
Aviva Chomsky
Professor of History and Coordinator, Latin American Studies
Salem State College
Noam Chomsky
Professor of Linguistics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
James D. Cockcroft
SUNY
Honorary Editor, Latin American Perspectives
Daniel Aldana Cohen
Graduate Student
New York University
Mike Davis
Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing
University of California-Riverside
Pablo Delano
Professor of Fine Arts
Trinity College , Hartford CT
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Professor Emeritus
California State University
Luis Duno-Gottberg
Rice University
Les W. Field
Professor of Anthropology
The University of New Mexico
Dana Frank
Professor of History
University of California, Santa Cruz
Todd Gordon
Department of Political Science
York University, Toronto
Manu Goswami
Department of History
New York University
Jeff Gould
Rudy Professor of History
Indiana University
Greg Grandin
Department of History
New York University
Richard Grossman
Department of History
Northeastern Illinois University
Peter Hallward
Professor of Modern European Philosophy
Middlesex University, UK.
Nora Hamilton
Professor, Political Science
University of Southern California
Jim Handy
Professor of History
University of Saskatchewan
Tom Hayden
Writer
Doug Henwood
Editor and Publisher
Left Business Observer
Eric Hershberg
Simon Fraser University
Vancouver, Canada
Kathryn Hicks
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
The University of Memphis
Irene B. Hodgson
Professor of Spanish, Director of the Latin American Studies Minor
Interim Director of the Academic Service Learning Semesters
Xavier University
Forrest Hylton
Assistant Professor of Political Science/Int'l. Relations
Universidad de los Andes (Colombia)
Susanne Jonas
Latin America and Latino Studies
University of California, Santa Cruz
Rosemary A. Joyce
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences,
Professor and Chair of Anthropology
University of California , Berkeley
Karen Kampwirth
Knox College
Naomi Klein
Journalist, syndicated columnist and author
Andrew H. Lee
Librarian for History, European Studies, Iberian Studies, & Politics
Bobst Library
New York University
Catherine LeGrand
Associate Professor
Dept. of History, McGill University.
Deborah Levenson
Associate Professor of History
Boston College
Frederick B. Mills
Professor of Philosophy
Bowie State University
Cynthia E. Milton
Chaire de recherche du Canada en histoire de l'Amerique latine
Canada Research Chair in Latin American History, Professeure
agregee/Associate Professor, Departement d'histoire
Universite de Montreal
Lena Mortensen
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
University of Toronto Scarborough
Carole Nagengast
Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of New Mexico
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
Marysa Navarro
Charles Collis Professor of History
Dartmouth College
Sharon Erickson Nepstad
Professor of Sociology
University of New Mexico
Mary Nolan
Professor, Department of History
New York University
Elizabeth Oglesby
Assistant Professor
School of Geography and Development
Center for Latin American Studies
University of Arizona
Jocelyn Olcott
Department of History
Duke University
Christian Parenti
Contributing Editor, The Nation
Visiting Scholar
CUNY Graduate Center
Ivette Perfecto
Professor
University of Michigan
Hector Perla Jr.
Assistant Professor
Latin American and Latino Studies
University of California, Santa Cruz
John Pilger
Journalist and documentary filmmaker
Adrienne Pine
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
American University
Deborah Poole
Professor, Anthropology
Johns Hopkins University
Suyapa Portillo
Pomona College
History Dept.
Vijay Prashad
George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of
International Studies
Trinity College
Margaret Randall
Feminist poet, writer, photographer and social activist
Marcus Rediker
Professor and Chair in the Department of History
University of Pittsburgh
Gerardo Renique
Associate Professor, Department of History
City College of the City University of New York
Ken Roberts
Professor, Department of Government
Cornell University
Nancy Romer
Professor of Psychology
Brooklyn College
City University of New York
Seth Sandronsky
U.S. journalist
Aaron Schneider
Assistant Professor
Political Science
Tulane University
Rebecca Schreiber
Associate Professor, American Studies Department
University of New Mexico
Ernesto Seman
Journalist
Richard Stahler-Sholk
Professor, Department of Political Science
Eastern Michigan University
Julie Stewart
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
Assistant Investigator, Institute of Public and International Affairs
University of Utah
Sylvia N. Tesh
Lecturer, Latin American Studies
University of Arizona.
Miguel Tinker Salas
Professor of History
Pomona College
Mayo C. Toruno
Professor of Economics
California State University, San Bernardino
Sheila R. Tully
San Francisco State University
John Vandermeer
Asa Gray Distinguished University Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Michigan
Jocelyn S. Viterna
Assistant Professor
Departments of Sociology and Social Studies Harvard University
Steven S. Volk
Professor, Department of History
Director, Center for Teaching Innovation and Excellence (CTIE)
Oberlin College
Maurice L. Wade
Professor of Philosophy, International Studies, and Graduate Public
Policy Studies
Trinity College
Shannon Drysdale Walsh
Fulbright-Hays Fellow
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Political Science
University of Notre Dame
Jeffery R. Webber
Assistant Professor, Political Science
University of Regina, Canada
Barbara Weinstein
Professor, Department of History
New York University
Mark Weisbrot
Co-Director
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Gregory Wilpert
Adjunct Professor of Political Science
Brooklyn College
Sonja Wolf
Institute of Social Research
National Autonomous University of Mexico
John Womack, Jr.
Professor of History, Emeritus
Harvard University
Elisabeth Wood
Professor of Political Science
Yale University
Richard L. Wood
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
University of New Mexico
Marilyn B. Young
Professor of History
New York University
Marc Zimmerman
Modern and Classical Languages
University of Houston
1). Human Rights Watch, "Honduras:
Evidence Suggests Soldiers Shot Into Unarmed Crowd." July 8, 2009.
Found at https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/07/08/honduras-evidence-suggests-soldiers-shot-unarmed-crowd.
2).
Human Rights Watch, "Honduras: Military Coup a Blow to Democracy." June
28, 2009. Found at https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/06/28/honduras-military-coup-blow-democracy
The witness—who claims he falsely identified Owens as the killer because he feared for his life—said that barring a stay, the condemned man "will die for a crime that he did not commit."
Barring an unlikely 11th-hour reprieve from South Carolina's governor or U.S. Supreme Court, correctional officials are set to carry out the state's first execution in 13 years after its attorney general brushed off a key prosecution witness' bombshell claim that the convicted man did not commit the murder for which he is condemned to die.
Freddie Owens—who legally changed his name to Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah while imprisoned—was convicted and sentenced to die by lethal injection for the shooting death of convenience store cashier Irene Graves, a 41-year-old mother of three, during a 1997 robbery.
Although there was no forensic evidence linking the then-19-year-old man to the murder, state prosecutors relied upon the testimony of co-defendant Steven Golden, who pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Owens as part of a plea deal to spare his own life.
On Wednesday Golden filed an affidavit in the South Carolina Supreme Court in which he declared that he lied about the identity of Graves' killer.
"If this court does not grant a stay, Freddie will die for a crime he did not commit," he wrote.
However, on Thursday the state's highest court rejected Owens' bid.
"Freddie Owens is not the person who shot Irene Graves at the Speedway on November 1, 1997," Golden's filing stated. "Freddie was not present when I robbed the Speedway that day."
"The detectives told me they knew Freddie was with me when I robbed the Speedway," wrote Golden, who was 18 years old at the time of the crime. "They told me I might as well make a statement against Freddie because he already told his side to everyone and they were just trying to get my side of the story."
"I was scared that I would get the death penalty if I didn't make a statement," he continued. "I signed a waiver of rights form and then signed a statement on November 11, 1997."
"In that statement, I substituted Freddie for the person who was really with me in the Speedway that night," Golden claimed. "I did that because I knew that's what the police wanted me to say, and also because I thought the real shooter or his associates might kill me if I named him to the police. I am still afraid of that. But Freddie was actually not there."
Golden—who said he did not name the person who he says killed Graves for fear of his life—added: "I'm coming forward now because I know Freddie's execution date is September 20 and I don't want Freddie to be executed for something he didn't do. This has weighed heavily on my mind and I want to have a clear conscience."
The office of Republican South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson responded to Golden's affidavit on Thursday, calling his claim "inherently suspect" and stating that he "has now made a sworn statement that is contrary to his multiple other sworn statements over 20 years."
The attorney general's statement came after a federal judge on Wednesday declined to halt Owens' execution over his legal team's concerns about the provenance of South Carolina's supply of pentobarbital, which is used in lethal injections.
South Carolina unofficially paused executions in 2011 as lethal injection drugs became increasingly difficult to obtain because pharmaceutical companies enacted bans on their use for capital punishment. The state subsequently passed a law protecting the identity of drug suppliers, resulting in renewed stocks.
Additionally, the state Supreme Court ruled in July that executions by firing squad and electrocution do not violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, validating a law signed in 2021 by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster that forces condemned inmates to choose between the two methods of execution at a time when lethal injection drugs were still scarce.
Anti-death penalty campaigners on Wednesday submitted a petition with more than 10,000 signatures asking McMaster to grant Owen clemency.
Although the number of U.S. executions has been steadily decreasing from 85 in 2000 to 24 last year, a flurry of impending state killings has raised alarm among human rights activists. Amnesty International says that in addition to Owens, seven men are scheduled to be put to death in the coming month.
"No government should give itself the power to execute people," Amnesty said Thursday on social media. "It is past time for the U.S. to align with other countries that no longer carry out this cruel and inhuman punishment."
A 2014 study determined that at least 4% of people on U.S. death rows were likely innocent.
"I don't think we have seen before, a violation that is so massive, as we are seeing in Gaza now," said one committee leader.
A United Nations committee on Thursday called out Israel for "serious violations" of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly with its nearly yearlong assault on the Gaza Strip.
"The outrageous death of children is almost historically unique. This is an extremely dark place in history," said Bragi Guðbrandsson, vice chair of the U.N. Child Rights Committee, which also released its findings on five other parties to the global treaty—Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Mexico, and Turkmenistan.
Since the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel, Israeli forces have killed at least 41,272 Palestinians in Gaza and injured another 95,551, according to local officials. Many more remain missing and are believed to be dead and buried in the rubble of bombed civilian infrastructure. The vast majority of the enclave's 2.3 million residents have been displaced, often numerous times.
Earlier this week, the Gaza Health Ministry publicly identified 34,344 Palestinians who have been killed in the Hamas-governed enclave as of August 31. The document spans 649 pages, the first 14 of which are filled with the names of babies. In total, there are 11,355 children.
The U.N. report states that "the committee is gravely concerned about... the outrageously high number of children in Gaza who continue to be killed, maimed, injured, missing, displaced, orphaned, and subjected to famine, malnutrition, and disease, as well as the multiple displacements of the Gazan population, as a result of the state party's indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on Gaza using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas and its denial of humanitarian access, with at least 1 million children displaced, 21,000 children reported missing, 20,000 children who have lost one or both parents, 17,000 children unaccompanied or separated from their families in Gaza, dozens of child deaths due to malnutrition, and 3,500 children at risk of death due to malnutrition and lack of food."
The panel also expressed alarm over "attacks on and destruction of hospitals, schools, residential buildings, refugee camps, and essential infrastructure, including power facilities and water tanks, by the armed forces, restricting access to health services, education, and housing for the nearly 1 million children living in Gaza."
Guðbrandsson said that "I don't think we can identify any measure that was taken to save children's lives in this military operation in Gaza."
"I don't think we have seen before, a violation that is so massive, as we are seeing in Gaza now," he noted. "These are extremely grave violations that we do not often see."
As Reutersreported:
Israel, which ratified the treaty in 1991, accused the committee of having a "politically-driven agenda," in a statement sent by its diplomatic mission in Geneva.
It sent a large delegation to a series of U.N. hearings in Geneva in early September where they argued that the treaty did not apply in Gaza or the West Bank and said that it was committed to respecting international humanitarian law.
It says its military campaign in Gaza is aimed at eliminating the Palestinian enclave's Hamas rulers and that it does not target civilians but that the militants hide among them, which Hamas denies.
Anne Skelton, chair of the U.N. committee, pushed back against Israel's position on Thursday, telling journalists, "They were not, in our view, facing up to the reality that 17,000 children are dead and that there have been repeated attacks on schools and hospitals."
The report also addresses Israel's claims, saying that "the committee deeply regrets the state party's repeated denial of its legal obligations under the convention in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) based on its position that the convention 'does not apply... to areas beyond a state's national territory' and 'was not designed to apply in situations of armed conflict,' and that international humanitarian law is the relevant and specific applicable body of law in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank."
"The committee also regrets the limited information it received on the situation of children living in the OPT due to such a position," the 22-page "concluding observations" document continued. "The committee is of the view that the state party's denial of the application of the convention cannot be used to justify its grave and persistent violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."
The panel cited the International Court of Justice advisory opinion from July that found "international human rights instruments are applicable." The ICJ—which has taken up a genocide case against Israel—also said at the time that the decadeslong Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and must end "as rapidly as possible."
The new report says that the Child Rights Committee, "aligning its position with the position of the ICJ, reiterates that the convention applies to all children at all times and is directly applicable in all territories over which the state party exercises effective control, and reminds the state party of its legal obligations both under the convention and international humanitarian law concerning children in the OPT."
Skelton also argued that "the only real way to serve children's rights in this situation is a cease-fire."
However, Israel has shown no signs of ending its assault on the Palestinian enclave—in fact, fears of a wider regional conflict are heightened this week due to bombings of pagers, walkie-talkies, and other devices across Lebanon, attacks supposedly targeting Hezbollah members that Israeli and U.S. officials attributed to Israel's military and intelligence operatives.
The Child Rights Committee's report follows U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres adding Israel to the so-called "List of Shame" of nations that kill and wound children during armed conflicts, a June decision that outraged Israeli officials but was praised by human rights advocates as long overdue.
"The need for U.S. support is more urgent than ever," said one advocate. "The lives and well-being of millions depend on it."
Rights groups on Thursday applauded three Democratic lawmakers for their proposal of a bill to restore United States funding to the United Nations' key agency tasked with providing services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza, six months after the U.S. suspended contributions following unverified accusations against the agency.
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, expressed gratitude to Reps. André Carson (D-Ind.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) for introducing the UNRWA Emergency Restoration Act of 2024, aimed at restoring funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East—legislation that Zogby said would be "lifesaving" if passed into law.
"UNRWA plays a vital role in providing essential services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the occupied Palestinian territory, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria," said Zogby. "The ongoing genocide in Gaza has resulted in increased displacement, starvation, and death. It is both inhumane and unconscionable to continue withholding financial support from UNRWA."
The U.S.—the largest international funder of the agency, which relies almost entirely on voluntary contributions from donor states—promptly suspended funding for UNRWA last January after Israel claimed without evidence that 12 out of the agency's 13,000 staff members in Gaza had been involved in a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel last October.
Congress later passed a bill prohibiting UNRWA funding through at least March 2025.
In 2022, the U.S. contributed more than $343 million to the agency.
"UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. U.S. funding should be restored immediately."
The Biden administration's decision to suspend donations to UNRWA pushed a number of U.S. allies to do the same, but countries including Germany, Sweden, Japan, and the United Kingdom have since reinstated their funding after an independent probe found that Israel had provided no supporting evidence of its claim.
"The United States should join our key allies in restoring this urgently needed funding for UNRWA. There is no time to lose," said Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, expressing support for the newly introduced bill.
Bridget Moix, general secretary for the group, added that cutting of funding was "simply unconscionable" because the U.S.—as the Israeli military's largest international funder—bears responsibility for the "horrific violence and a massive humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.
"UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip," said Moix. "U.S. funding should be restored immediately."
Cavan Kharrazian, senior policy adviser for Demand Progress, noted that since the U.S. suspended funding to UNRWA, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened, with U.N. experts warning in July that famine had spread across the enclave.
"The need for U.S. support is more urgent than ever," said Kharrazian. "The lives and well-being of millions depend on it."
"We call on leaders in Congress to take principled stands like this as future funding bills move," he added, "removing these harmful prohibitions against UNRWA funding."