Western States Encourage Belligerents by Arming Israel, HRW Chief Says

Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
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Western States Encourage Belligerents by Arming Israel, HRW Chief Says

Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo

The head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that states supplying weapons to Israel as it pursues conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon despite evidence of violations of international law are empowering belligerents elsewhere.

Tirana Hassan, HRW's Executive Director, said that countries like the United States, Germany and Britain could influence Israel's actions and should do so by ending arms sales.

"If there continues to be military support to the Israeli Defense Force and they (Western governments) know that these weapons are being used in the commission of war crimes, then that should be enough for weapons sales and transfers to stop," she told Reuters in an interview.

"At this stage, the parties that could have some sort of influence and curb the behavior of the warring parties, when it comes to Israel, it's the US it's the UK, and it's Germany, and it's through weapons sales and transfers."

Israel says it takes care to avoid harming civilians and denies committing abuses and war crimes in the conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It says its enemies are fighting amongst civilian populations, making its operations more difficult, and that it is acting in self-defense. Reuters has asked the Israeli authorities for comment on Hassan's remarks.

Hassan said that when states which abused rights saw there were no consequences, they felt emboldened to continue.

Governments supplying them with weapons were undermining their own credibility as defenders of international law and human rights as well as the credibility of the international system, she said.

"It sends a message that these rules apply differently to us and our allies as they do to others, and that has really serious consequences," she said.

This contradiction when Western countries were demanding accountability for Russia's invasion of Ukraine was being exploited by countries like Russia and China, she said.

"They are very quick to point out double standards from the West and are trying to use that to undermine the system."

Hassan spoke to Reuters as the UN rights office released a report on the death toll in the Israel-Hamas Gaza war where it said nearly 70% of verified fatalities were women and children.

Palestinian authorities say that more than 43,500 people have been killed in Gaza in the 13-month war triggered by Hamas attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

"This should now motivate the world into action. There is really no justification for the killing of children," Hassan said.

On Oct. 13, Washington imposed a deadline for its ally Israel to improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.

Asked about the likely impact of the election of Donald Trump in the United States, she said there was "little assurance" of his commitment to international law during his previous tenure as president.

"Now we have seen in some of the statements on the campaign trail threats of mass deportation of millions of people and this sends a very worrying message," she added.



Pay up or Face Climate-Led Disaster for Humanity, UN Chief Warns COP29 Summit

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers his speech at the UN Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, 12 November 2024. (EPA)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers his speech at the UN Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, 12 November 2024. (EPA)
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Pay up or Face Climate-Led Disaster for Humanity, UN Chief Warns COP29 Summit

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers his speech at the UN Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, 12 November 2024. (EPA)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers his speech at the UN Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, 12 November 2024. (EPA)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told world leaders at the COP29 summit on Tuesday to "pay up" to prevent climate-led humanitarian disasters, and said time was running out to limit a destructive rise in global temperatures.

Nearly 200 nations have gathered at the annual UN climate summit in Baku, focused this year on raising hundreds of billions of dollars to fund a global transition to cleaner energy sources and limit the climate damage caused by carbon emissions.

But on the day of the summit designed to bring together world leaders and generate political momentum for the marathon negotiations, many of the leading players were not present to hear Guterres' message. After victory for Donald Trump, a climate change denier, in the US presidential election, President Joe Biden will not attend. Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a deputy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is not attending because of political developments in Brussels.

"On climate finance, the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price," Guterres said in a speech. "The sound you hear is the ticking clock. We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and time is not on our side."

This year is set to be the hottest on record. Scientists say evidence shows global warming and its impacts are unfolding faster than expected and the world may already have hit 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 F) of warming above the average pre-industrial temperature - a critical threshold beyond which it is at risk of irreversible and extreme climate change.

As COP29 began, unusual east coast US wildfires that triggered air quality warnings for New York continued to grow. In Spain, survivors are coming to terms with the worst floods in the country's modern history and the Spanish government has announced billions of euros for reconstruction.