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Jan
Global Development experts deliver petition to policy makers demanding immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza
Written by Global Development 4 PalestineOTTAWA, ON, January 8, 2023 - A group of global experts in the international development sector delivered a petition with over 4,000 signatures to international development policy makers - including Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly and Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen, with one key demand: to support an immediate and permanent ceasefire; to walk their talk on peace and democracy.
This petition joins and supplements existing global calls for a ceasefire, including a Canadian petition with over 286,000 signatures delivered to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly in November 2023. Neither Joly nor Hussen have released official statements calling for a ceasefire or denouncing Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
Global Affairs Canada has committed $1.4 billion annually from 2023 onwards to support women and girls’ health and rights globally. MP Hussen has called for unfettered humanitarian access and committed CAD $3 million to UNFPA for humanitarian response in Gaza and MP Joly has committed to an accountability system investigating Israeli misconduct.
Over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7th, an average of 256 Palestinians per day over 93 days of Israeli bombardment. An additional 52,000 Palestinians have been injured, and an estimated 180 women per day give birth with limited access to healthcare after repeated attacks on hospitals.
While an average of 500 trucks entered Gaza per day prior to October 7th, less than half that amount presently enter the territory.
A signatory explained their support of the petition:
“Palestinians deserve the same human rights and empathy as other humans and the ceasefire is the minimal bar our sector that advocates for ‘peace’, ‘dignity’ and human rights should be campaigning for. It’s incredibly disheartening to see our sector position itself to provide aid that we know is not going in without even addressing the cause of the need for this level of aid and the very publicly stated genocidal intent against the Palestinian people.”
