Letter to UN Member States: CS FfD Mechanism's position on the genocide against the Palestinian people and call to take action during UNGA80
29 September 2025
The Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism (CS FfD Mechanism) would like to state its position in the face of the genocide against the Palestinian people and call on UN member states to take decisive action during UNGA80.
We join in solidarity with the calls by movements fighting against systems of injustice that view people of colour especially black, brown and indigenous peoples as disposable, to be sacrificed by racist and colonial systems of exploitation and domination. We see the struggle of the Palestinian people against occupation and apartheid as part and parcel of our collective struggle for ecological, racial, economic and political justice and for a world where everyone has the right to live with dignity, free from oppression and fulfill their potential in the enjoyment of all human rights. The United Nations was founded on these very principles of decolonization and promotion of human rights, and has in various instances recognized the Palestinian right to self-determination.
On 26 January, 2024, the International Court of Justice handed down its order on provisional measures in the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel. The Court found that "the case with respect to the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide" was "plausible", and therefore that Israel must immediately cease all such actions and ensure immediate access to basic services and humanitarian assistance. A year and a half later, to the dismay of the world, no meaningful measures were undertaken by parties to the Genocide Convention. On September 16, 2025, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel submitted a report to the Human Rights Council concluding "that the State of Israel bears responsibility for the failure to prevent genocide, the commission of genocide and the failure to punish genocide."
Further, September 18th marks the end of the one year deadline set by the UNGA resolution for Israel to comply with the demands of the ICJ’s 2024 advisory opinion on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the ICJ. Given that Israel has not complied, the GA has to adopt further measures. These measures have to be meaningful and achieve an urgent halt to the genocide. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 has also stated that the violence that Israel has unleashed on Gaza is part of a long-term, intentional, systematic, State-organized, forced displacement and replacement of Palestinians, with an economy of genocide being carried out by international corporations profiting from disaster and genocide.
As we emphasised in the Civil Society Forum Declaration at FfD4 recently, no real financial justice can be reached without an urgent end to escalating wars and genocides. We reject the failure of Global North governments to uphold longstanding global commitments on climate, ecological and development finance while trillions are spent on wars and genocides. We reject the militarization of aid and the diversion of development cooperation toward security objectives that perpetuate inequality and harm and demand redirecting military spending toward financing public services, social infrastructure, and environmental resilience.
In this context, the CS FfD Mechanism recognizes that we are collectively driven to uphold justice, equality, dignity and integrity for all. For years we have taken strong stands against all forms of colonialism, imperialism and militarism, stressing that the re-invention of the International Financial Architecture needs to be driven by the urgency of re-centering the global economy on the imperatives of life over those of capital. For those reasons:
We strongly support the call by UN Human Rights Rapporteurs and Experts for the General Assembly to convene an emergency meeting to:
1. Call on Member states to act under “uniting for peace” in line with General Assembly resolution 377 V and recommend a peace operation.
2. Demand the opening of all the crossings to unrestricted humanitarian access under direct UN oversight.
3. Demand the immediate suspension of failed or dangerous mechanisms, including those that have led to widespread killings at aid distribution points.
4. Call on Member States with ports in the Mediterranean Sea to urgently deploy emergency navies carrying humanitarian aid.
5. Request the authorisation of UN-led international humanitarian convoys with full UN authority to coordinate and supervise all crossings into Gaza.
6. Demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire and the release of arbitrarily detained Palestinians and Israelis alike.
We reject Israel’s exceptionalism and impunity granted by imperial Western powers. Never again is now, never again is a principle for all humanity. We denounce the political capture of the Security Council by the US, blocking any possible resolution that is effective to ensure the safety, dignity and integrity of the Palestinian people and their territory, while channeling billions of military aid to Israel. The need for UN member states to call for a Special Emergency Session in the UN General Assembly to invoke its authority under a Uniting for Peace resolution has therefore never been more urgent.
The Uniting for Peace resolution can be invoked in the General Assembly when the Security Council is unable to act owing to a veto. We add our voices to those calling for this resolution to be invoked. This resolution could be comprehensive and include elements such as a Peace Force, military embargo on Israel, the withdrawal of Israel’s UN GA’s credentials, mandate an accountability body to hold Israel accountable (such as an ad hoc Tribunal on Crimes Against Humanity, Apartheid and Genocide), reactivate the UN’s Anti-apartheid mechanism to address Israel’s apartheid; among others. All these actions could be adopted by the UNGA with a two-third’s majority. Given the 2024 resolution of the ICJ, Israel would have no legal right to refuse these measures. The Court has asserted that Israel has no authority, no sovereignty and no rights in Gaza, nor in the West Bank[1]. This resolution can be invoked at any time, but the historical and urgent moment is now.
In addition, we also call on UN member states to consider the following:
- Member States need to uphold their commitments under the Genocide Convention and carry out further measures, such as sanctions to cease all trade, investment, diplomatic, sporting and cultural relations with the Israeli government[2].
- We call on Member States to ensure that stopping the genocide and protecting the Palestinian people is front and centre of the action at UNGA80. Discussions on a two-state solution cannot be the only focus of the UNGA. Any such discussions cannot be driven by external actors but must instead be centred on the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people.
- We call on the UN Secretary General and UN bodies to show leadership against the genocide and apartheid carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people in a critical moment such as this one, and to stop hiding behind legalistic and cowardly positions in the face of a genocide.
- We call on Member States and the international community to defend, uphold and protect the judges, staff and the judiciary bodies of international law such as the ICC and the ICJ calling for an end of the genocide along the indictment of the State of Israel and Israel’s authorities carrying out a genocide in the Gaza strip. We also call for the protection of independent and autonomous entities such as UN Human Rights Rapporteurs. None of these actors should be subjected to illegal sanctions that aim at intimidating them and refrain them from carrying out their mandate under the human rights framework and in alignment with the Genocide Convention.
- We add our voices to the call by many international actors demanding the removal of the President of the General Assembly this year, who has openly dismissed the assessment by the ICJ, and have repeatedly undermined diplomatic efforts to hold accountable those responsible.
- We also join the calls for the removal of ICJ Vice President Judge Sebutinde from the Israel genocide case, who has shown a bias in favor of Israel.
- We call for moving the UN Headquarters out of NYC, given the prosecution, harassment and anti-UN standing of the US government. No freedom of expression is ensured to voices calling for a halt to genocide at the house of multilateralism. The US has set in motion sanctions against UN actors (such as ICC judges and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967). It also denied the visa of the Palestinian Authority to attend the GA. More broadly, it has set in motion a context of harassment and intimidation of dissent, that is not conducive to provide the international community with an environment for dialogue and diplomacy. All these elements undermine the capacity of action in the face of a genocide.
- We call on the international community to mobilize to halt the genocide, to stop the occupation, the siege and the apartheid, towards a peace based on justice. We call on enhancing efforts to carry out Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, civil disobedience and collective action against Israel. We also encourage greater support for the demand to free political prisoners after decades of occupation.
This is a time for political will and political mobilization. End the Genocide, NOW.
[1] Craig Mokhiber, “How the UN could act today to stop the genocide in Palestine”, Mondoweiss, August 27, 2025.
[2] See, for instance, initiatives such as The Hague Group, “a global bloc of states committed to “coordinated legal and diplomatic measures” in defense of international law and solidarity with the people of Palestine”.
