‘Over 400 Children Killed Daily’: Russian Embassy In Malta Calls For Israel And Palestine To Cease Hostilities
The Russian Embassy in Malta has issued an official statement calling for all parties to the Israel-Palestine conflict to immediately cease all hostilities.
“The State Duma emphasizes that it is not only violence and the killing of civilians and the taking and holding of hostages is a crime, but also the bombing of civilian residential areas, the blockade, the obstruction to the emergency humanitarian aid delivery and violent attempts to displace large numbers of civilians under the actual threat of physical destruction.”
The Embassy of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Malta further highlighted that the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child are “currently being flagrantly violated in the Middle East, mainly in relation to minors”.
It then went on to state that the UN peacekeeping and mediation bodies situated in the area of conflict have proved to be “untenable and ineffective”.
The embassy fiercely called out Western states “led by the US” for disregarding the goals and objectives outlined in the Plan of Action A World Fit for Children adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2002 – stating that this was one of the reasons for the “tragic situation” regarding the protection of children’s life and health in the conflict zone.
“Washington and London’s blocking of the efforts of the UN Security Council, which has the exclusive right to make drastic decisions to prevent or stop any armed confrontation, leaves no doubt about the opportunistic and highly politicized approach of Western countries to the issue of ceasefire and halting a new round of hostility and violence in the decades-long Israeli-Arab conflict.”
“Their attempts to use the escalation of the crisis in the world’s flashpoints for their own selfish, also economic, purposes and their long-standing practice of putting up a sturdy resistance to the peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East, in particular as part of the Middle East Quartet, make it impossible to absolve those international structures of responsibility, which, within the limits of their mandates, are supposed to protect the interests and rights of the child.”
The State Duma went on to urge for the boosting of efforts of the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict and to give new “impetus” to the work of specialised UN agencies like the Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute.
To conclude, the Russian embassy appealed to fellow parliamentarians from all across the globe to remind that it is “up to us, the people of goodwill, to stop the evil and insanity unfolding in the Middle East”.
It urges that the only way to save the Children of Palestine, Israel, and neighbouring countries is through joint international effort, especially through the UN Security Council mechanism.
What do you make of the State Duma’s statement?
READ NEXT: 'A Genocide By Israel': Former Maltese President Signs Letter To PM Supporting Palestinians
