UN Experts Call On Security Council To Protect Women And Girls In Gaza And Restore Peace

GENEVA (21 May 2025) – The UN Security Council must urgently address Israel’s unprecedented assault on civilians in Gaza and reaffirm its commitments to the Women, Peace and Security agenda, a group of independent human rights experts* said today.

“Ahead of the Council’s open debate on civilian protection under Greece’s presidency, we urge meaningful discussion of the grave and gendered impacts of the unfolding genocide on women and girls in the besieged Gaza Strip,” the experts said.

The experts stressed that attacks have shattered every aspect of civilian life, with distinctly gendered consequences, and that Palestinian girls and women of all ages have suffered in staggering numbers, while Israel continues to deny critical humanitarian access. They noted that over 28,000 women and girls have been killed, thousands have been injured and nearly 1 million displaced. Close to 13,000 women are now single heads of households. The entire population is still confronted with a critical risk of famine. Nearly 71,000 children and 17,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women will need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition in the immediate future.

Women continue to mourn profound losses while caring for families with little to no access to water, medicine, adequate food, sanitary products, or sexual and reproductive health care. Women and girls with disabilities face especially acute risks - disproportionately experiencing neglect, heightened exposure to violence, and significant barriers in accessing essential services, the experts noted.

“The destruction of civilian infrastructure and profound suffering inflicted on women and girls demands immediate and sustained action by the Security Council,” the experts said. “The devastation experienced by women, girls, and entire communities is not incidental – it is the consequence of intentional policies and actions by Israel. The killings of thousands of women and girls may constitute the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction, in whole or in part, of the Palestinian people.”

The experts noted that while Palestinian women and girls in Gaza are victims of this indiscriminate and disproportionate military assault, women, as journalists, medical workers, teachers, lawyers, and aid workers, continue to care, document, and resist despite unbearable losses.

“Girls and other children report walking long distances for remote learning, even as they fear bombings along the way. They cling to uniforms and books, still hoping to return to classrooms—even when those spaces are no longer safe,” the experts said.

Reiterating their repeated calls for a permanent ceasefire and the need for protection and accountability measures, the experts urged the Council to respond to the specific gendered impacts of the crisis. Women, Peace and Security commitments, they noted, must not be sidelined from core peace and security discussions.

“In Gaza, the rules of engagement and fundamental protections owed to civilians have been intentionally, persistently and flagrantly violated,” the experts warned. “If the Security Council fails to confront this profound breakdown in compliance and accountability, and what it means for humanity and multilateralism, the very foundations of international law risk becoming meaningless.”

*The experts: Laura Nyirinkindi (Chair), Claudia Flores (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada Tanck, Ivana Krstić, and Haina Lu, Working group on discrimination against women and girls; Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967; Cecilia M. Bailliet, Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity; George Katrougalos, Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing; Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Nicolas Levrat, Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers; Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Surya Deva, Special Rapporteur on the right to development; Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education; Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food; Siobhán Mullally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association; Ashwini K.P. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; Heba Hagrass, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities; Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons.

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