Geneva - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, is expected to visit the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza tomorrow. Euro-Med Monitor believes that this visit is intended to cover up Israeli crimes and that Turk must accept the responsibilities of his position and speak truthfully about what is taking place.
The Geneva-based organization argued that Turk is complicit in the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip, having made no attempt to achieve justice for the Palestinian victims now having been subjected to a genocide campaign for a full month.
Euro-Med Monitor noted that he seems to embrace his country of Austria's pro-Israel views despite his responsibility to uphold and defend human rights principles in an impartial manner.
Euro-Med highlighted that Turk refused to deal seriously with the Israeli forced displacement policy imposed against more than a million Palestinians, despite its strong condemnations by the United Nations, its officials, and agencies as constituting a clear violation of international humanitarian law that may amount to a war crime.
The Euro-Med Monitor also pointed to Turk's dismissal of the resignation letter from the director of his New York office, Craig Mokheiber – in which he protested against the way UN bodies, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, had handled the Gaza Strip situation and demanded that the UN act on its responsibility to protect human rights – as 'personal opinions'.
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor urges the UN Secretary-General to deal seriously with the issues raised in Mokheiber's letter and to immediately remove Turk from his position to preserve the status and reputation of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
