NEW YORK CITY: Tunisia’s foreign minister on Friday expressed “concern and disappointment” for Palestinians who have been subjected to “the most despicable war crimes” and “all forms of violations of human rights” by Israel.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Mohamed Ali Nafti called out the international community for its failure to ensure that international humanitarian law is respected.
“The international community remains unjustifiably and immorally silent,” he said. “Calling for human rights and humanitarian issues to take precedence disappears when it comes to the Palestinian people.”
The international community must treat all human beings equally, without discrimination or double standards, Nafti said, adding that Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza has jeopardized people’s trust in the UN and its ability to implement its own resolutions.
He said Tunisia “firmly and unconditionally” supports the rights of the Palestinian people, in particular their right to “self-determination” and “the establishment of an independent, sovereign state” with East Jerusalem as its capital. He added that Tunisia also supports Palestine’s bid to become a full UN member.
Nafti highlighted growing crises in the world such as conflicts, wars, extremism, terrorism, organized crime, and unprecedented levels of poverty, hunger and inequality.
He also spoke about the widening digital and development gap between countries in the Global North and South, and the inability of the international financial system to “respond to the development needs of the majority of states.”
These challenges indicate that “the current international system is no longer on track,” and requires joint efforts to “carry out the necessary reviews and reforms to address all the chaos, inequality and turmoil,” Nafti said.
Africa is the most affected by climate change, global crises, terrorism and instability, he added, asking for UN and international efforts to overcome these challenges.
“African solutions for African problems should be the approach for achieving the goal of silencing the guns by 2030,” he said.
Nafti called for the UN to help maintain stability and security in Libya while rejecting “all forms of foreign intervention in Libya’s internal affairs.”
He also urged parties in Sudan to stop fighting and engage in dialogue in order “to end the scourge of war and displacement causing suffering to its people.”
He emphasized Tunisia’s call for reform of the UN and its various bodies, particularly the Security Council, to “improve their performance and promote their credibility.”
