Mr. President,
We thank the Independent Expert for her presentation and for her report entitled “Torture and Genocide.”
The report confirms with irrefutable evidence what Cuba has maintained: Israel has institutionalised a systematic regime of torture with genocidal intent against the Palestinian people.
It further documents that mass killings, forced displacement, the systematic destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the denial of food and medical care constitute forms of collective, continuous, and generational torture designed to suppress the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
We agree with the Special Rapporteur that these practices amount to genocide under Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Cuba strongly denounces and condemns these actions, which are only possible with the support in weapons, funding, and vetoes of the United States.
How many more children and women must be massacred or tortured before the international community acts and provides the urgent international protection required by the Palestinian people?
Every minute of impunity and inaction means that more innocent people will continue to be killed, maimed, detained, and displaced. We reject any plan aimed at expelling the Palestinian people from their territory.
We support the Special Rapporteur’s recommendation to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute acts of genocide and torture, including the issuance of arrest warrants against responsible Israeli officials.
It is the responsibility of this Council to act so that those responsible and their accomplices are held accountable. There can be no peace without justice, nor justice without the will to enforce international law.