The Civil Democracy Movement of Israel
Enclosed is the letter of the law professors for human rights, to UN institutions
and to the Council for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
regarding Hamas crimes of war, and a call to stop these crimes
Below is the letter initiated and written by our member Prof. Frances Redai, signed by over 150 law professors and lecturers so far, regarding the terrible crimes that Hamas has committed and continues to commit against the hostages that the organization has kidnapped, including women and girls; including is a call for urgent international intervention.
Law Professors for Human Rights
Contact: frances.raday@gmail.com; 972547544242
October 9, 2023
To: The CEDAW Committee of the United Nations
To: The Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council and especially the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and the Working Group on Discrimination against Women
Re: An urgent call for your immediate action to free all the Israeli and other citizens who were kidnapped by the Hamas terror organization and, in particular, to do everything in your power to put an end to the vicious and inhumane capture, violence, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of women and girls
1. I appeal to you on behalf of “Women Law Professors for Human Rights” whose members are undersigned.
2. For the last two days, the citizens of the State of Israel have been under a murderous and barbaric attack, with Hamas using the same terror tactics as ISIS, and these were apparently condoned by the leadership of Hamas which is the de facto representative of the Gaza Strip.
3. Hamas fighters took control of Jewish kibbutzim and towns and then went from house to house and slaughtered entire families. They raided an outdoor party attended by crowds of young civilians, slaughtering and capturing them indiscriminately, leaving behind 240 bodies of young people.
4. During the Hamas attack it kidnapped an unknown number of elderly people, women, children and infants. The photos and videos, documented by the perpetrators or by witnesses, that have already been published on social media and in international media of kidnapped mothers with children, elderly women, bleeding women, and the body of a naked woman - are shocking and devastating.
5. Hamas is hiding the identity of most of the abductees, their location, their medical condition and their fate. The abductees are defined according to international law as victims of enforced disappearance. That is as defined in the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (2006) and in the United Nations Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (A/RES/47/133). These acts constitute blatant violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. International human rights law obligations to release civilian hostages, including women, girls, children and babies, and to treat them humanely in the interim, apply equally to all parties to a conflict.
6. Beyond the fact that there is a real and imminent danger that the abductees will continue to be tortured, raped and murdered, there is also a real fear that Hamas will trade the Israeli abductees with other Palestinian terrorist organizations (it has already announced that 30 of them have been handed to the Islamic Jihad) and even to terrorist organizations in other countries, which will increase the difficulty of tracing and releasing them.
5. It seems that among the abductees there are non-Jews as well as Jews, those with Canadian, US, EU, the Philippines and Thai citizenships as well as Israeli citizens.
8.Therefore, and in the hope and in prayer that it is still not too late - we call for your immediate action to free, in any way possible, all the Israeli and other citizens who were kidnapped by Hamas and have disappeared.
9. In the name of international law and humanity, we hope that you will do everything in your power to end these vicious and blatant acts of extreme violence against women and girls from a few months old to 85 years old.
Sincerely
Professor Frances Raday, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Professor Ruth Halperin Kadari, Bar Ilan University Law Faculty, Bar Ilan
Professor Yofi Tirosh, Tel Aviv University Law Faculty, Rishon LeZion
Professor Zvi Trigger, Law School, Coleman College of Management, Rishon LeZion
Professor Orna Ben Naftali, Law School, Coleman College of Management, Rishon LeZion
Professor Judith Resnik, Yale Law School, US
Professor Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford, UK
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Photos and videos, documented by the perpetrators or by witnesses, published on social media:
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/10/09/israel-music-festival-shani-louk-mother-vpx.cnn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOr76XaqdVs
https://x.com/bokeralmog/status/1711330812098904490?t=QGza45ruQ3v6qF4R2xB-HA&s=08 (# year old girl hostage –Hebrew)