TEHRAN – Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the Head of the Islamic Public Law Association of Iran, has addressed 16 UN special rapporteurs in a letter, asking them to help raise awareness about Israel’s relentless war crimes in Gaza.

The text of the letter is as follows:

The Gaza Strip has been the scene of deadliest attacks by Israel since October 7. As a result of Tel Aviv’s horrific and appalling crimes, the total death toll in the besieged enclave has passed 10,000 of which over 4,000 were defenseless children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. This shows the apartheid nature of the Israeli regime.

In the meantime, despite the fact that international law -through customary law and treaties- provides a great deal of protection for women and children in armed conflicts, the Israeli military continues the targeted killing of women and children in Gaza. This is a crime which one cannot turn a blind eye on it.

Using banned weapons, forcing two million people out of Gaza and making them homeless, making plans for complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza, imposing blockade on civilians, denying Palestinians their full sovereignty over their natural resources, cutting people’s access to food and medicine, targeting civilian infrastructures, including schools, hospitals, and residential, historical and cultural sites, and confiscating their lands are all among the regime’s crimes and violations which have led to the fragmentation of Palestinians’ motherland. The United Nations General Assembly’s resolutions as well as the International Court of Justice’s decisions have repeatedly criticized the regime for committing these atrocities, but these crimes need to be independently probed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The role of the UN’s special rapporteurs is to monitor, promote and raise awareness on Israel’s ongoing crimes against Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

You, in the capacity of the UN’s special rapporteur and in accordance with Code of Conduct for Special Procedures Mandate-holders of the Human Rights Council (5/2, Annex A/HRC/5/21), are obliged to report on the deteriorating situation of two million Palestinians in Gaza who are grappling with electricity crisis, food crisis, and water crisis. Women and children are main victims of unrelenting Israeli bombardment and it is incumbent upon special rapporteurs to report without any form of prejudice on such atrocities, taking a one-sided approach.

Articles 3 and 5 of the Code of Conduct call for an independent capacity and exercise of functions through a professional, impartial assessment of facts based on internationally recognized human rights standards, and free from any kind of extraneous influence, incitement, pressure, threat or interference, either direct or indirect. Even Article 12 urges rapporteurs to set aside their political inclinations while reporting. “Bear in mind the need to ensure that their personal political opinions are without prejudice to the execution of their mission, and base their conclusions and recommendations on objective assessments of human rights situations.”

Slanted reporting based on undocumented sources undermines the principle of impartiality which- as a cornerstone of international law- helps prevent biased and unfounded reporting. Undoubtedly, SPr’s unbiased report would help the international organizations and community move towards global peace and justice. You are expected to fulfill your tasks as outlined in specific UN resolutions and fully address- in your future reports- Israeli human rights violations in the Gaza Strip.

It is worth considering that the Israeli regime as well as the US would continue to exert pressure on SPrs to affect and overshadow their impartiality and objectivity; however, it is obvious that your conscientiousness, justice-seeking spirit, and independent status would hold back all pressures.