Rima Khalaf the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) resigned on Friday after the UN secretary general António Guterres asked her to withdraw a report condemning the Israeli occupation and accusing it of imposing an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people.
Khalaf’s resignation constitutes an international document pointing to the pressures and threats imposed on the United Nations by countries of strong power and influence and governments that disregard human rights.
Khalaf revealed that she was ordered to withdraw two reports issued by the ESCWA not because of their content but because of the political pressures practiced by countries accountable for blatant violations of human rights in the region.
The resignation text of the ESCWA Executive Secretary
Mr. Secretary General
I have thought carefully about the letter you sent me by your office manager. I assure you that I did not for a second question your right of issuing your instructions to withdraw the report from ESCWA’s website and I believe that we as employees at the General Secretariat of the United Nations should implement the instructions of the Secretary General. I know for sure your compliance with human rights principles in general and your position on the Palestinian people’s rights in particular. I understand your worries in these difficult days which do not leave us many choices.
It was expected naturally that Israel and its allies would practice immense pressure on you to distance yourself from the report entitled “Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid” and to ask for it to be withdrawn. I do not find it surprising that such member states that have governments with little regard for international norms and values of human rights will resort to intimidation when they find it hard to defend their unlawful policies and practices. It is only normal for criminals to pressure and attack those who advocate the cause of their victims but I cannot be subjected to these pressures.
Not as a UN employee but as a normal human being I believe in all noble humanitarian principles which the UN embraces. Like you I also believe that discrimination against any person on the basis of religion color sex or race is unacceptable and it cannot be acceptable by force and political pressures.
For two months I have been receiving instructions to withdraw two reports published by the ESCWA not because of the presence of any defect in the content and not because you do not agree with the content but because of the political pressures practiced by countries responsible for blatant violations of human rights.
Bearing in mind all the above I cannot but insist on the conclusions of the ESCWA report that Israel has established an apartheid regime. The report provides irrefutable evidence and it is my duty not to conceal a clear crime. The painful truth is that the apartheid regime continues to exist in the twenty-first century. This cannot be acceptable in any law and cannot be morally justified in any way.
After a careful consideration of the matter I realized that I have no choice. I cannot withdraw again a UN report with excellent documentation and research about serious violations of human rights.
Based on this I submit my resignation from the United Nations.
