UN Human Rights Director resigns because he failed to stop Israel's genocide in Gaza

Jakarta - Director of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights based in New York, Craig Mokhiber, resigned from his position because he considered his organization to have failed to stop the genocide in Gaza.

Mokhiber sent his four-page resignation letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva Volker Turk. The letter, dated October 28, was then shared with the public on Tuesday (31/10) and is now circulating on social media.

“Once again, we are watching genocide unfold before our eyes, and the organizations we serve appear powerless to stop it,” Mokhiber said in his resignation letter.

He said that this was not the first time the UN had failed to prevent genocide. Mokhiber said the UN had previously failed to prevent genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda, Muslims in Bosnia, Yazidis in Iraq and Rohingya in Myanmar.

"As a human rights lawyer with more than three decades of experience, I know very well that the concept of genocide is often subject to political abuse," "

However, the current wholesale massacre of the Palestinian people, rooted in ethno-nationalist settler colonial ideology, "is a continuation of systematic persecution and cleansing that has been going on for decades, based entirely on their status as Arabs," he said.

Mokhiber also accused the United States (US), Britain and most European countries of being "fully complicit in this horrific attack".

According to him, the governments of these countries not only refuse to fulfill their treaty obligations under the Geneva Conventions, but also actively arm Israeli attacks, provide economic and intelligence support, and provide political and diplomatic cover against "Israeli atrocities."

"In recent decades, significant parts of the UN have surrendered to the power of the United States, to fear the Israel Lobby, to ignore the principles of international law," he said.

"Western powers will continue to fight us every step of the way, so we must stand firm. In the short term, we must seek an immediate ceasefire and end the long-standing siege on Gaza, preventing ethnic cleansing in Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank, " he said again.

Mokhiber has worked for the UN since 1992. He has served as the UN's Senior Advisor on Human Rights in Palestine and Afghanistan. He also lived in Gaza in the 1990s as a UN human rights advisor.

Kenya: Railways increases its fares

Kenyans will have to make a financial effort to be able to travel by train. Kenya announced on Wednesday a sharp increase in tariffs on the railway built by China.

Now, the 470-kilometer journey between the port city of Mombasa and the capital Nairobi will cost around $30 in first class, up from $19 and $10 in economy class, down from $6 previously.

The changes will also affect the popular commuter rail service in the capital, Nairobi, as well as the Kisumu and Nanyuki safari trains which attract thousands of tourists each year.

The state-owned Kenya Railways cites rising fuel prices. “This increase is explained by changes in the energy and oil sector, where fuel prices have increased significantly, thereby affecting the cost of our operations.”

But not only that, Kenya must also repay loans owed to Beijing for the construction of various infrastructures including its standard gauge railway valued at $4.7 billion.

As Nairobi's overall debt to Beijing reaches a record $70 billion, Kenyan President William Ruto requested a new loan of $1 billion during a trip to China two weeks ago, to, he says, complete overdue infrastructure projects.

Commissioned in 2017, the standard gauge railway has faced low utilization.

Gaza: foreigners and dual nationals cross the Rafah border

Seventy-six injured Palestinians and 335 foreigners or dual nationals were allowed to cross from the Gaza Strip to Egypt on Wednesday.

Civilians are thus crossing the Rafah crossing point for the first time since the total blockade of Gaza established by Israel after the Hamas attack on October 7.

Egyptian authorities had indicated that they would allow 90 injured Palestinians and around 545 foreigners and dual nationals to cross the border on Wednesday.

A new opening is planned for this Thursday to allow the passage of more foreigners and people with dual nationality according to security sources.

Egypt will help evacuate "around 7,000" foreigners and dual nationals from the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday, the day after the first evacuations from the south of the Palestinian territory.

More than 8,000 people, including 3,648 children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to the Health Ministry of Hamas, the movement that controls this territory.

In the process, WHO called for urgent and accelerated access of humanitarian assistance, including fuel, water, food and medical supplies into and across the Gaza Strip.