A campaign by Maat calls on countries to boycott the Conference on Disarmament during Israel's presidency

Okeil: The occupation authorities should not use the conference to gloss over their human rights violations to the world.

Maat for Peace, Development, and Human Rights launched a new campaign today, 4 June 2024, entitled "Presidency Tainted with Blood.” The campaign aims to urge member states to boycott the United Nations disarmament conference, chaired by the Israeli occupation authorities from 19 August to 13 September 2024. This campaign is prompted by the grave violations committed by Israeli occupation forces against civilians in Gaza since October 7th. Israel's indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks have resulted in terrifying and appalling bloodshed, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians, repeated forced displacement, destruction of homes and cities, and the devastation of the region's future life and cultural heritage.

The campaign aims to highlight the threats posed by the irresponsible actions of the Israeli occupation authorities to international peace and security, especially after their leaders threatened to use nuclear bombs to crush Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. These statements contradict the member states' commitments in the conference, aiming to disarm and limit armament. They also utilized artificial intelligence in their war on Gaza, disregarding calls from the conference's parties, which aim to establish rules to limit the exploitation of autonomous weapons during armed conflicts.

Maat urged the member countries of the conference to amend the mechanism for assuming the conference's presidency, which is based on the alphabetical order of their names rather than election. This allows countries that threaten international peace and security to assume the presidency and undermine the conference's disarmament efforts, as neither the Secretary-General nor anyone else can change the system, so it is up to the member states to make the change. Maat also emphasized the need for transparent measures to modify the decision-making process at the conference, based on consensus, as this often hinders the conference's work and effectiveness.

The disarmament conference, which established in 1979 following the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly on Disarmament, with 65 member states including the five nuclear-weapon states, is one of the most important international bodies headquartered at the United Nations Office in Geneva. It is the only multilateral negotiating forum responsible for initiating the negotiating process for the adoption of legally binding instruments in the disarmament field.

In this context, Ayman Okeil, the human rights expert and chairman of Maat, said that it is illogical for a government, such as the authorities of the occupation, to be accused of using internationally banned weapons and being responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza, while leading a body affiliated with the United Nations and deciding who can or cannot speak. Okeil added that the campaign aimed to prevent Israel from chairing a disarmament conference, but the conference's rules prevented that. Therefore, we called on member states to boycott the conference for the entire four weeks that Israel holds the presidency.

Okeil expressed his dismay for the occupation authorities, who persist in utilizing diverse weaponry to harm civilians in Gaza, while shamelessly assuming leadership of a conference aimed at establishing global norms to reduce weapon usage, especially against civilians. Okeil called on the participating nations to take decisive actions to prevent Israel from using the conference to improve its global human rights reputation and to cover up its crimes, which amount to genocide.

In the context of its human rights campaign, Maat launched a petition demanding individuals, civil society organizations, and all stakeholders worldwide to urge countries to boycott the conference during Israel's presidency. It is illogical for a government accused of perpetrating crimes against humanity, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, and endangering international peace and security to lead a United Nations-affiliated body. This undermines the credibility of the United Nations and raises doubts about the integrity of the disarmament framework.

Join the campaign by signing the petition here: