ECO 5, SB62
Rest of the UN on the Siege in Gaza
UN Secretary-General António Guterres
March 20, 2025
“Meanwhile, he warned, the siege on Gaza tightens. For nearly three weeks now, he said, the Israeli Authorities continue to ban the entry of any…”
May 17, 2025
“A policy of siege and starvation makes a mockery of international law. The blockade against humanitarian aid must end immediately.”
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner‑General
May 2, 2025
“Today marks two months of siege on the people of Gaza. It is a siege on children, women, older people, and ordinary men.”
Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner Human Rights
February 2025
“The siege tactics employed in Gaza bear the hallmarks of collective punishment—a war crime. The international community must act to prevent further atrocities.”
Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs
April 2024
“What we are witnessing in Gaza is not just a blockade—it is a medieval siege. Families are being starved, hospitals are being bombed, and aid is being deliberately obstructed.”
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine
March 2025
“The siege has turned Gaza into an open-air prison where death comes not just from bombs but from starvation and disease.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
January 2025
“The siege has crippled Gaza’s health system. Hospitals without power, doctors without supplies, and children without food—this is a man-made catastrophe”
UNFCCC Secretariat on the Siege in Gaza
“We would like to inform you that the phrase “end the siege” cannot be authorized for use in the banner or any accompanying text.
While each advocacy action is considered individually, this particular phrase has not been authorized in previous sessions and must be assessed in light of the current context.
Given the sensitivities involved, the secretariat has a responsibility to maintain a neutral and constructive environment that supports open dialogue among Parties.
That said, the action planned for tomorrow may proceed provided that “end the siege” is removed from all materials and that the names of the countries mentioned in the application description will not be used during the action itself.”
***
The Two-Year Struggle Against Censorship and Control
For 621 days, the UNFCCC Secretariat has systematically censored and suppressed advocacy for Palestine, even as a genocide unfolds. This is a chronological account of how the UNFCCC Secretariat has chosen silence over solidarity, bureaucracy over humanity, and convenience over courage.
November 2023: The Genocide Begins – And So Does the Censorship
Weeks before COP28 in Dubai, just 2,000 kilometers away, a genocide in Gaza was clearly unfolding, with over 15,000 Palestinians already killed—most of them women and children. Gaza’s homes, hospitals, schools, and critical infrastructure were being bombed to rubble.
Inside the UNFCCC, however, speaking about Palestine came with heavy restrictions.
• Arbitrary and inconsistent application of the Code of Conduct: Civil society organizations were forced into unprecedented negotiations with the Secretariat over what could and could not be said.
• Shifting Goalposts: Even phrases like “Ceasefire Now” and “End the Occupation” were not “approved” for use. The Secretariat suggested euphemisms—like “end the occupation of bodies” instead of “end the occupation of Palestine.” But consistency was too much to expect from the secretariat as the phrases that were “allowed” kept changing with no legitimate explanation.
• Controlled Protests: Actions in solidarity with Palestine were tightly restricted in terms of location, timing, and messaging.
This level of control was never applied to any other advocacy issue. The yardstick changed overnight—but only for Palestine.
New restrictions on actions and expression: Suddenly, actions that were norm such as the display of banners with messaging on Palestinian solidarity in press conferences were arbitrarily deemed an “action” in violation of the Code of Conduct. Organizers were threatened with de-badging.
November 2024: The Genocide Intensifies – So Does the UNFCCC Secretariat’s Erasure of Palestine
By COP29, the death toll in Palestine had surpassed 62,614. The world had witnessed mass graves, targeted starvation, and the wholesale destruction of Gaza. Yet inside the UNFCCC, Palestinian voices were further silenced.
• Forced Renegotiation: Every slogan, every phrase had to be bitterly renegotiated.
• Denial of Identity: While the UNFCCC’s Code of Conduct prohibits naming countries in actions, the Secretariat went further—banning Palestinians from identifying themselves as being from Palestine. This was not just censorship; it was erasure of a people undergoing ethnic cleansing. And we had to bear the humiliation and pain of having to relay this diktat to our Palestinian brothers and sisters.
• A stunning lack of empathy: Despite Israel’s attacks on UNRWA (a UN agency), the killing of UN workers and aid workers, the Secretariat appeared to display no empathy for its own colleagues—let alone Palestinians.
The message was clear: Palestinian lives did not matter to the Secretariat.
June 2025: The Final Stages of Genocide – And the Final Straw
Today, Israel’s siege has turned into a “Final Solution”—mass forced starvation, medical blockades, and the use of food as bait for massacres. The genocide is undeniable.
Yet when civil society expected the Secretariat would finally be clear about this genocide they received another censorship demand.
• The Last Straw: Civil society’s application to do a solidarity action with three demands “End the Siege, End the Genocide and End the Occupation was met with a rejection by the Secretariat. They were not willing to agree to the use of the demand, “End the Siege” and insisted that this be removed if we wanted approval. This condition was placed despite the regular use of this phrase across UN spaces.”
Why This Matters for Climate Justice
The UNFCCC Secretariat’s argument that Palestine is unrelated to climate, displays a fundamental lack of understanding of how climate change intersects with social and economic rights and political injustices, as captured in the Convention and the Paris Agreement.
• There is no climate justice without human rights.
• Colonialism and environmental destruction go hand in hand. Israel’s occupation has stolen water, destroyed farmland, and bombed solar panels—all while enforcing a siege that makes adaptation impossible.
• The collusion of vested interests including those of energy companies that have contributed to this genocide, not to mention the unaccounted for emissions of relentless bombing campaigns and the reduction of infrastructure to rubble
• The UNFCCC is the only multilateral space dedicated to address the existential threat that is the climate crisis. If it stays silent on a current existential crisis like a genocide, it risks irrelevancy.
We Refuse to Be Complicit
For nearly two years now, we negotiated, compromised, and accepted irrational conditions in order to at least be able to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, even in its weakest form. But now, the Secretariat’s attempts at censorship have crossed a line.
We will not stay silent. We will not sanitize genocide. And we will not let the Secretariat hide behind bureaucracy and semantics while a people are erased.
The world is watching. History will judge.
***
Spot the difference…
On Monday, protestors stood outside with banners that read “End the Siege”.
By Friday, those same banners had to be stripped of three words.
We’ve edited two photos, one from Monday, one retouched to show what Friday’s protest would look like if we accepted the condition placed on us by the UNFCCC Secretariat. We invite you to spot the difference.
Download the ECO issue here: https://climatenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ECO-20-June-2025.pdf