More than 500 staff members of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have written an open letter to High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, calling for a clear description of the Gaza war as an ongoing genocide.
The letter, sent on Wednesday and signed on behalf of the Staff Committee, emphasizes that the legal criteria defined for genocide have been met based on the scale, scope, and nature of human rights violations in the nearly two-year war in Gaza.
The letter states that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has a serious legal and moral responsibility to condemn acts of genocide.
UN staff have called on Turkey to take a clear and public stance condemning the crisis as genocide.
This request comes as UN reports indicate that more than tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, more than 100,000 injured, and widespread displacement in Gaza since October 2023.
