WJC delivered a statement on Item 7: Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories. Item 7 is the only country-specific UN agenda item, specifically targeting Israel.
Read the full statement below:
Mr. President,
The World Jewish Congress takes the floor under this item which exemplifies the Council’s institutional bias against one country – Israel – subject to different treatment compared to the rest of the world.
At a time of acute financial strain across the United Nations system, the organization continues to sustain a disproportionately large, resource-intensive architecture focused almost exclusively on Israel and the Palestinian territories, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, according to a recently published report by the World Jewish Congress.
This structure has developed over decades through this stand-alone agenda item, open-ended investigative mandates, recurring resolutions, a permanent database, and multiple and overlapping reporting requirements across multiple UN bodies and specialized agencies. No other country situation is subject to a comparable concentration of standing mechanisms, nor to a similar level of sustained institutional attention.
Taken together, these mechanisms represent a structural allocation of resources that is neither proportionate nor needs-based, particularly when contrasted with the far more limited attention and funding directed toward many other protracted or acute human rights crises worldwide.
The World Jewish Congress calls upon this Council to immediately remove item 7, establish clear sunset clauses, streamline overlapping UN mechanisms, and publish an annual consolidated cost report detailing the full financial footprint of Israel-related UN mechanisms across departments and agencies.
Thank you.