UN REF: A/HRC/56/NGO/133
Date: 14 June 2024
Title: Perpetuating the Nakba: Ongoing Forced Displacement in Gaza
Written statement submitted by The Palestinian Return Centre Ltd, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status. Human Rights Council, Fifty-sixth session, 18 June–12 July 2024. Agenda item 3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.
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Press Statement:
"United Nations Documents" Publishes a Report by PRC on Internally Displaced Palestinians in Gaza
The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) in London submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council as part of Agenda Item 3 on internally displaced persons.
The report addresses the repeated forcible displacement of civilian populations in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the aggression, explaining that it was carried out systematically and widely.
Citing UN data, the report indicates that the number of people subjected to forcible transfer (forced displacement) since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza on October 7, 2023 ranges between 1.7 million and 2 million Palestinians. With the intense bombing and thousands of tons of explosives targeting entire residential neighborhoods, approximately 70% of these neighborhoods were turned into rubble.
The massive numbers of forcibly displaced individuals are now crowded into the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt, living in conditions devoid of basic necessities.
“Today, according to UN data, Rafah is the most densely populated city in the world, with displaced people living in dire conditions inside thousands of tents spread across the city. Even the sidewalks are crowded with tents, and the main roads have turned into crowded markets, reflecting the severe shortages in all aspects of daily life and the basic needs of the displaced”, says PRC. “The displacement from Gaza to Rafah has resulted in immense suffering for persons with disabilities in Gaza, who are the most vulnerable during displacement due to the nature of their disabilities, the lack of suitable environments, necessary accommodations, and accessibility.”
The report confirms that the crime of forcible displacement is classified as a grave violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. Article 49 of the convention explicitly prohibits the forcible transfer or deportation of protected persons from occupied territories to the territory of the occupying power or to any other country, occupied or not, regardless of the motive. Article 147 of the convention lists forcible transfer as a grave breach. Additionally, Article 85 of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, concerning the protection of victims of international armed conflicts, considers forcible transfer a war crime.
PRC has called upon the international community to effectively ensure the provision of international protection for Palestinian refugees, including their legal right to return to their original homes and their right to self-determination and to take all necessary measures to compel Israel to fulfill its obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
“The international community must work to halt these policies, ensure they are not repeated, and redress the harm done to the victims. Support for efforts to activate international accountability and justice mechanisms, including backing the work of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry and the International Criminal Court, is essential”, the report further reads.
PRC’s report concludes with calls for strengthening international efforts to provide comprehensive humanitarian aid and protection for Palestinian refugees and displaced persons according to international law standards, specifically for those trapped in Gaza, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups such as women, children, and persons with disabilities.