Each year on November 29, the United Nations and the international community observe the International Day in Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The World YWCA, as a member of the Middle East Working Group with Focus on Palestine, presented a statement to the United Nations on November 30 calling on UN member states and civil society to act to stop the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands and to stand up for the rule of international law and international human rights and humanitarian law.
The statement notes that after 34 years of observing the day of solidarity, the Palestinian people are still no closer to realising their inalienable rights of self-determination or establishing an independent State within borders stipulated in the UN resolution 181. In contrast, illegal settlements and land-grabbing continue in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
The signatories also expressed dismay at the lack of support for Justice Goldstone's report that details the findings of the United Nation's independent international Fact-Finding Mission into the 2009 Gaza War. The report found that the Israeli armed forces used disproportionate force, in contradiction with core principles of Humanitarian Law, constituting gross violations of the Geneva Conventions.
Signatories to the statement include the following members of the Middle East Working Group with Focus on Palestine:
- General Arab Women Federation (GAWF)
- General Federation of Iraqi Women
- International Association of Democratic Lawyers
- Union of Arab Jurists
- Union of Arab lawyers
- Women International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
- World Young Women Christian Association (World YWCA)
- World Alliance of Young Men Christian Association (World Alliance of YMCAs)