UN Experts Warn FAO Over Gaza Starvation Staff Reprisal Fears
(MENAFN) UN experts on Tuesday called on the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to defend human rights and shield its personnel, citing alarm over how officials who handled food insecurity and starvation in the Gaza Strip have been treated.
The experts flagged remarks by the FAO director-general that seemed to tie the exit of senior officials to their work on human rights issues.
“Human rights principles are not peripheral to the FAO’s mandate; they are central to it,” said the experts.
Documenting starvation in Gaza, they said, fits squarely within the agency’s mission to fight hunger and does not violate its duty of impartiality.
They cautioned that possible reprisals risk creating a climate of fear among staff and eroding the UN’s credibility.
The experts urged the FAO to honor the UN Charter and called on member states to hold its leadership to account.
They added that human rights commitments should be a central consideration when the next FAO director-general is chosen in 2027.
The experts flagged remarks by the FAO director-general that seemed to tie the exit of senior officials to their work on human rights issues.
“Human rights principles are not peripheral to the FAO’s mandate; they are central to it,” said the experts.
Documenting starvation in Gaza, they said, fits squarely within the agency’s mission to fight hunger and does not violate its duty of impartiality.
They cautioned that possible reprisals risk creating a climate of fear among staff and eroding the UN’s credibility.
The experts urged the FAO to honor the UN Charter and called on member states to hold its leadership to account.
They added that human rights commitments should be a central consideration when the next FAO director-general is chosen in 2027.
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