Human Rights

"This is the time to save those who have not yet been lost forever, and use every means... under international law to stop Israel's genocide of the Palestinians."

"The sections below... focus on... killings, physical destruction, forcible displacement, and the destruction of political, cultural, and social life... address how Israel's genocide... targets Palestinian identity, particularly through attacks on refugees... [and] analyze key expressions of dehumanization and incitement against Palestinians..."

"In 2021, joined many others, first and foremost Palestinian organizations and activists, who for decades... identified the Israeli regime as... apartheid... We wrote: ...the Israeli regime implements laws, practices and state violence designed to cement the supremacy of one group — Jews — over another — Palestinians. A key method... is engineering space differently for each group."

"Given the... escalation in... violence against Palestinians in all these areas — which... includes... grave crimes — we must call for an immediate end to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and warn of clear and imminent danger that... genocide will not remain confined to Gaza."

"[A]fter ordering residents to leave their homes, Israel repeatedly bombed... "safe corridors" that... s (IDPs) were to use to travel to "humanitarian zones"."

"Israel's... open-fire policy... systematically violates fundamental principles of international law, such as distinction and proportionality. Israel... policy... permits unprecedented levels of harm to uninvolved civilians when striking at what it considers military targets. ...These practices enable... increase... frequency of strikes and [to] reduce risk to soldiers at the expense of precautions... to reduce injury to innocents."

"[R]ecognition that the Israeli regime is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip and the deep concern that it may expand to other areas... demand urgent... unequivocal action from both Israeli society and the international community."

"Since the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide... genocide has... been recognized as one of the gravest crimes in international law, involving acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."

"Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

"The mass killing of civilians in Gaza has been carried out... through permissive... at times deliberate, live fire by Israeli soldiers... Soldiers' testimonies reveal that... Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip defined "kill zones"... with arbitrary boundaries, sometimes unclear even to the soldiers... where permission was given to open fire at anyone... within them."

"Confronting the... destruction and moral disintegration requires... acknowledging the crimes... [and] commitment to action and... accountability... international and domestic."

"[R]ebuilding after such devastation will be... long and arduous... [and] require a fundamental shift in the foundations of the Israeli regime."

"[E]stimates range from thousands to tens of thousands of deaths, in addition to the direct fatalities caused by the Israeli assault. ...[R]esearchers broadly agree that... figures released by the Ministry of Health in Gaza significantly understate... victims."

"[T]his section reflects only a partial picture of the scale of harm to... Palestinian life... under Israeli control. We estimate that years of documentation and research will be required to fully assess the scope of destruction that continues... and the long-term consequences... Palestinians... are expected to face in the future."

"[T]he Israeli regime... stripped [of] every moral value and obligation of meaning, is a danger to all people under its rule. ...[E]verything must be done to prevent it from claiming more victims."

"As part of broader... settler-colonialism... from the early stages of Zionist settlement, the Israeli regime works to ensure Jewish supremacy over Palestinians — economically, politically, socially, and culturally."

"The current onslaught on the Palestinian people, including... Gaza... [is] in the context of... [>]seventy years in which Israel has imposed a violent and discriminatory regime on... Palestinians... its most extreme form... in the Gaza Strip."

"Gaza's residents have endured countless traumatic events... with... psychological consequences... [W]ithin a reality of omnipresent death, relentless displacement, and ongoing hunger and disease, many are suffering psychological distress after witnessing horrific events, including the violent deaths of... loved ones."

"The... intent... component in the definition of genocide, emerges unequivocally in... Israeli leadership's awareness of the... consequences of its open-fire and starvation policies; ...systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure..; the decision to continue, and... escalate, the assault despite... its impact on the civilian population..; and numerous statements by policymakers... indicating... Israel is targeting the entire population..."

"[T]he Israeli regime is leading an assault on the Palestinian population in the West Bank and a policy of egregious rights violations against Palestinian citizens of Israel. The form and extent of these actions... are rooted in the... denial of Palestinian humanity. ...[T]he lives and dignity of Palestinians have come to be regarded as disposable... and violence against them normalized."

"In September 2024, 15 aid organizations published an analysis showing that Israel had blocked 83% of food assistance to the Strip."

"[B]efore the... offensive... 64%... in the Gaza Strip were classified as food insecure, and... 80% relied on... humanitarian aid. Immediately after launching its assault... Israel declared a complete blockade... which quickly led to... shortages of food..."

"[W]hen the State of Israel was established... [i]t... had a clear objective... to cement the supremacy of the Jewish group across... territory under Israeli control. The main tool... the establishment of an apartheid regime (one that, unlike... South Africa, has never been formally declared as such and... has been consistently denied...) This regime is designed to cement... supremacy... through demographic engineering, separation, shaping public discourse, indoctrination, militarism, and... use of force and violence."

"For Israelis, the... attack... generated a degree of anxiety and feeling of existential threat that led to profound social and political changes... These instigated a shift in... policy... from repression and control to destruction and annihilation."

"The atrocious attack, aimed mostly at civilians, included many war crimes and likely... crimes against humanity."

"Entire cities bombed and razed, with scarcely a house left standing; hundreds of thousands torn from their lives... with what little they could take on their backs, searching for temporary shelter; adults and children... in endless lines for... little food, risking life and limb... to feed their starving families; and... death looming everywhere."

"[T]roops are operating... in the other areas, under the same commanders and political leadership. The practices... often reflect the... logic applied in Gaza: total disregard for human life, severe harm to innocents, widespread destruction of residential areas and living conditions, ... flouting... moral obligations and international law. ...[M]any senior military and political figures are threatening... the level of force... used in Gaza against Palestinians in other areas. In these areas..., lethal crimes are... committed... with no accountability... The violence and destruction... is intensifying... with no effective domestic or international mechanism acting to halt them. As a result... crimes are becoming normalized in the eyes of soldiers, commanders, politicians, media figures and Israelis..."

"[R]ecognizing that genocide is taking place against part of a group or in a specific location is... a grave warning: it signals the potential expansion of similar patterns of violence to other segments of the group or... other areas."

"The routine killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip and the forced displacement of tens of thousands in the would not have been possible without international inaction in the face of the unfathomable scale and severity of these crimes."

"Israel's decision to continue.... despite countless warnings and... evidence of its deadly consequences... with repeated public clarifications by... policymakers that the target is the entire population of Gaza, demonstrate the intent of... leadership to... destroy Palestinian life in the Gaza Strip."

"[A]fter the International Court of Justice ruled... plausible risk that Israel's actions amount to genocidal acts, and... the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Gallant on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the international community failed..."

"[M]any state leaders, particularly in Europe and the United States, have not only refrained from effective action to stop the genocide but enabled it — through statements affirming Israel's "right to self-defense" or active support, including the shipment of weapons and ammunition."

"Recent policies targeting school completion rates and offering boarding options for marginalised communities have both troubled youth, and increased opportunities for social development"

"the opportunity to assure that everybody can become masters of their own destiny"

"addressing human rights challenges is inseparable from social and economic development programs. Under her leadership, initiatives aimed at reducing inequality and promoting inclusivity have made notable progress despite ongoing challenges"

"new healthcare policies offer free medical services for pregnant women and children under the age of five, with additional funding set aside for individuals who are unable to afford treatment"

"There is a double function to our country. Help others whilst preventing war to come on our soil"

"We would like Australia to be a better friend, to increase the level of relationship and engagement and accompany Burundi as we strive to improve our economic, social and political stability"

"When schools cloak spiritual practices in the language of science, they bypass parental authority and compromise the religious freedom of students."

"Our children are starving for people who can provide them with practical skills that will allow them to build a life for themselves. There are many adults who have those skills and would love the opportunity to prepare [children] for a jobs-based economy, if only they were allowed. There are welders, machinists, lawyers, artists, graphic designers, writers, accountants and more out there, all with skills our children need. …Why shouldn’t any principal at a public school have the option to hire someone like me with significant real-world experience?"

"Freedom of expression, association, and education are important, intimate, and public rights but in an ideal list or hierarchy they come after [ freedom of religion or belief ], and it can even be argued that they derive from it."

"In 2010, a Bolivian law granted to the state a monopoly on the formation of teachers. As a consequence, private institutions were gradually closed, including the Catholic Sedes Sapientiae and a parallel Adventist college. The question at issue is whether states are entitled to create monopolies in certain fields of higher education that exclude private academic institutions, including those inspired by specific religious values."

"The refusal to register Segero Unam Christian Academy raises serious questions about the state of freedom of religion or belief in South Korea. When neutrality is interpreted to exclude faith‑based education from legal recognition, it becomes a tool of exclusion rather than fairness. When a pastor’s public advocacy for constitutional freedoms is treated as disqualifying “political activity,” the boundary between education policy and ideological policing becomes dangerously thin."

"Therefore, for the exhausting, bloody war which is today convulsing the unfortunate peoples of the former Yugoslavia, the leaders of the Western powers must share the blame with Tito. Now, attempting to somehow correct the very problem they helped to create, they essentially repeat the well-known maxim of Metternich [the backward-looking Hapsburg diplomat who dominated the post-Napoleonic Congress of Vienna in the early 19th century] for the Holy Alliance: "Intervention for the sake of making others healthy." Today the slogan is "Intervention for the sake of humanism." It is an ironic similarity! But intervention is a very dangerous thing. It is not so easy for the great powers to control the world."

"For good measure, Britain’s prime minister Tony Blair had in a speech in Chicago in 1999 suggested that a concept of ‘humanitarian intervention’ be seen as valid wherever democracy and human rights were under threat. To him, there could be no limit to NATO’s responsibility. But who should define threats and responsibilities? After New York’s 9/11 atrocity in 2001 at the hands of Al Qaeda, NATO found itself expected to intervene wherever Washington’s rulers ordained. Armies from virtually all Europe’s states were summoned to fight with varying degrees of enthusiasm and engagement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya. As America tested its hegemonic muscles, obedience was the price for the continuance of the nuclear umbrella. No one asked, let alone answered, the question of who should police the ever-expanding borders of democratic Europe."

"Michael Walzer, probably the most distinguished philosopher of justice in war, repeatedly points to India’s Bangladesh war as a canonical example of a justifiable humanitarian intervention, in a radical emergency when there was no other plausible way to save innocent human lives."

"The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support."

"Psychology is now able to tell us with reasonable assurance that the most influential obstacle to freedom of thought and to new ideas is fear; and fear which can with inimitable art disguise itself as caution or sanity or reasoned scepticism or on occasion even as courage."

"“The biggest gift from God to man is a free mind,” [Uyghur-man Örkesh Davlet] said."

"The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control over the means of mental production, so that in consequence the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are, in general, subject to it."