News
On 20 March 2017, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) delivered a statement on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations Office in Geneva.
Anne-Marie Vuignier, an advocacy officer from the WCC, delivered the oral statement. The statement explained the plight the communities of Khan Al Ahmar and Susyia.
"Khan Al Ahmar has received 42 demolition orders covering all village affecting almost 140 people, half of them children,” Vuignier read. “The demolition of the primary school, built with the support of international donors, would deprive 78 girls and 74 boys of their right to education.”
In Susyia, the statement explained, demolitions are also posed to uproot more than 300 people.
“The 340 residents of the village of Susyia in the south Hebron hills are still waiting for news of its imminent demolition with demolition orders on all 114 structures including homes, animal shelters, water cisterns, latrines, two health clinics, a school and a kindergarten,” Vuignier read.
The WCC-CCIA statement emphasized that Israel as an occupying power is bound by international humanitarian law to protect the Palestinian civilian population, noting: “…depriving children of the right to education is not only a human concern…it is an obstacle to the building of a viable and healthy future for Palestinians.”
