Caux Democracy Forum: Keynote Address by Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA

08 July 2025

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great pleasure to be here at the Caux Democracy Forum and to engage with you all.

I would like to thank Jacqueline Coté and Ignacio Packer of the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation for inviting me to deliver the keynote address today.

I am addressing you in my capacity as the Commissioner-General of UNRWA – the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees.

Two years ago, many people outside the United Nations and the Middle East were not familiar with UNRWA, despite our massive regional footprint with some 30,000 staff working across the occupied Palestinian territory, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

However, since the war in Gaza began, UNRWA has been a bellwether for the changes sweeping across our multilateral system and the rules-based international order that has been in place since the end of the Second World War.

The international commitment to human rights and the rule of law, so painstakingly fostered over three quarters of a century, is challenged today in ways that dangerously threaten the principles and values that lie at the heart of the liberal democratic tradition.

[Current crisis and fraying of post-WWII international order]

It is impossible to overstate the impact of the abhorrent attacks of 7 October 2023 on Israel, and the brutal war on Gaza that followed.

The attacks on Israel triggered a deep, collective, and intergenerational trauma.

The shock and horror of the attacks have reverberated across North America, Europe and elsewhere, polarising societies on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The Israeli Government’s response has pushed far beyond the guardrails of international law and the United Nations system.

The results are devastating.

Nearly two years of the most intense bombardment of a civilian population since World War II, and the restriction of humanitarian aid far below minimum needs, have transformed Gaza into a dystopian nightmare.

More than 55,000 people are reported killed, mostly women and children.

Thousands more lie unaccounted for under the rubble or have succumbed to starvation or disease.

Some two million people have been forcibly displaced multiple times across a decimated territory.

No one, and nowhere, is safe.

To compound this dire situation, the principled international aid operation led by the United Nations – of which UNRWA is a crucial part – has been replaced with a new mechanism that is costing more lives than it saves.

Starving people are compelled to walk for miles, and stand for hours in wired enclosures, in blistering heat, to receive food.

They are shot at, and hundreds have been killed and injured.

This is not an aid operation.

It is a weaponization of humanitarian assistance – the grotesque culmination of nearly two years of inaction and impunity for the atrocities committed in Gaza.

***

In the shadow of Gaza, appalling violence is taking place across the occupied West Bank, which is under lockdown.

Additional restrictions on the movement of people and goods, are intensifying the impact of brutal military operations by the Israeli Security Forces, and rampant violence by Israeli settlers.

In the north of the West Bank, Palestinians have been displaced from camps at levels not seen since 1967.

Public infrastructure is systematically destroyed so Palestinians cannot return, and the demography of camps is permanently altered.

Annexation is well underway.

***

The events on and after 7 October 2023 have generated seismic changes.

We are living in dangerous and unpredictable times.

Dangerous not only because of the war in Gaza and escalating tensions in the region, but also because the rules-based international order is fraying.

The Geneva Conventions were put in place 75 years ago to protect civilians and non-combatants during conflict – a set of rules on which we all agreed.

But do we still?

Today, the Conventions are so undermined that they are at risk of becoming irrelevant.

The lack of meaningful action in defence of international law is weakening the foundations of our multilateral system and will have consequences.

It is fuelling growing resentment in the Global South, where many perceive that the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in international law do not apply equally, and certainly not when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In Gaza, under our watch, we have seen an unprecedented, blatant disregard for the Geneva Conventions, as well as for United Nations personnel, premises and operations.

The principles of distinction and proportionality have lost all meaning, and total impunity prevails.

Hospitals, schools, and civilian infrastructure have been indiscriminately targeted; humanitarian and health workers have been killed; Palestinian journalists are silenced, and international media is banned.

UNRWA has been uniquely affected – more than 320 personnel have been killed, and most of our premises have been damaged or destroyed.

Without accountability for these attacks, we set a dangerous precedent that will compromise humanitarian and human rights work across the world.

[Crisis of values and principles]

We must ask ourselves how we have arrived at this juncture, where broadly accepted rules and shared values are so fundamentally contested.

The war in Gaza has revealed a highly concerning deficit of mutual empathy and deeply entrenched prejudice.

These attitudes have been fostered over decades, through competing narratives anchored in divergent beliefs about what triggered the conflict.

Narratives that have often been cynically exploited to gain and maintain political power.

Today, Israelis and Palestinians are neighbours who no longer know each other, divided by war and growing isolation.

It is both tragic and ironic, because Palestinians and Israelis share a long and profound history of oppression, grief and loss that most of us could not begin to imagine or understand.

Hannah Arendt said that “the death of empathy is one of the first and most telling signs of a culture on the verge of descending into barbarism”.

Losing our empathy is a prelude to losing our humanity.

Rising populism and bigotry are a threat to human rights and the rule of law, undermining democratic principles and institutions.

International solidarity around our shared values is needed now more than ever and each of us has a role to play.

[Response to the current crisis]

I am often asked how we should respond to the profound challenges confronting the rules-based international order.

Is there a balance to be struck between holding firm to principle, and pragmatic accommodation?

While compromise is a central tenet of resolving conflicts and disputes, I believe that core principles and values cannot be negotiated.

For humanitarians, our ability to provide lifesaving assistance depends on strict adherence to the principles of humanity, independence, impartiality, and neutrality.

We cannot, under any circumstances, be part of efforts that flout these principles by discriminating against people in need of assistance or politicizing human suffering.

Wars and humanitarian crises are deeply complex.

To navigate them effectively, we must maintain clarity regarding our purpose and be guided by a lawful mandate.

However, this is not enough.

We also have an obligation to speak out about violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

Even when it is inconvenient and uncomfortable.

Even when violations are committed by friends and allies.

Even when it comes at a professional and personal cost.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminded us of the moral imperative to act against injustice when he stated that “to be silent in the face of oppression is to choose the side of the oppressor.”

Silence is complicity. So is inaction.

My colleagues at UNRWA have spoken out forcefully against the horrors and indignities that Palestinians have endured in Gaza.

Images and stories from our shelters have opened the eyes of the world to the inhumane conditions displaced people endure.

Testimonies from children denied access to food, water, medicine and education have reached audiences like you thanks to our staff.

UNRWA has loudly and repeatedly raised the alarm regarding violations of international humanitarian law and the United Nations Charter.

We have identified these violations as part of a longstanding political project to separate Palestinians from Palestine.

Our information has helped to create an evidence base for the rulings of the International Court of Justice.

To be vocal is a choice, and, in my view, a duty.

[Way forward]

The primary responsibility for addressing humanitarian challenges and political crises lies with the Member States of the United Nations, all of which are obligated to act to uphold international law.

Where quiet diplomacy and public expressions of concern and condemnation fail to influence the actions of a rogue government, alternative measures should be considered.

Individuals also play a critical role. Governments – at least in most democracies – are ultimately accountable to their citizens.

It is therefore incumbent upon each of us to engage actively with democratic institutions and processes to demand that our representatives uphold international law and protect human rights.

In the context of Gaza, we must demand an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of hostages, and unimpeded humanitarian access.

We must also insist upon a meaningful political pathway that addresses the long-standing question of Palestine.

This is the only way to fully implement the rulings of the International Court of Justice.

It is the only way to honour the intentions of the international community as expressed in numerous resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.

And it is the only way to stop a steady descent into chaos in the occupied Palestinian territory, that will shatter any prospects for peace in the region and haunt us for decades to come.

***

I stated at the beginning of my remarks that these are dangerous and unpredictable times.

But we do not have the luxury of despair or inaction.

We must persist in a vigorous defence of our common humanity and shared values.

There is too much at stake to do differently.

Thank you.