Palestinians are dying in the bloody war in Gaza.
But they are not allowed to talk about their suffering at the UN.
The US Secretary of State is barring all Palestinians from traveling to the UN headquarters in New York.
– It is a wrong decision, says Jan Eliasson, former president of the UN General Assembly.
On Friday, the White House announced its latest controversial decision.
Despite the Palestinians' desperate situation, they are not allowed to participate in the heart of the peace talks – the UN General Assembly.
No Palestinian delegates will be granted visas to travel to New York when the General Assembly opens in September.
The US Secretary of State refers, among other things, to national security interests.
The decision goes against the UN charter that the US has approved.
– It is a wrong decision. The USA is the host country of the UN, so the principle of universality must be met, meaning that all UN members and observers must be given access to New York and the UN, says Sweden's former Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson, who has also been president of the UN General Assembly.
According to Eliasson, the US decision goes against a long-standing tradition of everyone being allowed to make their voices heard in the General Assembly.
– I can't remember this obligation being waived before. The US has traditionally always given visas to, sometimes, controversial countries. It started once when Arafat
would come. Countries such as North Korea have never been denied visas, he says.
Palestine has not only been a permanent observer in the UN General Assembly since 2012, the country is also recognized by three-quarters of the UN member states.
– There will certainly be more during the General Assembly. The crisis in the Middle East is high on the UN agenda, and Palestine's voice obviously also needs to be heard in the General Assembly, says Eliasson.
How do you think this affects the role of the UN?
– Above all, it affects trust in the US. The UN has rules, but in this case the US is not complying with them.
Will the US be forced to change its decision?
– I think that in the end they will probably have to accept a change in their decision.
The Trump administration has increasingly distanced itself from the UN, what does that mean for the organization's future?
– The UN has been weakened by the US leaving several important UN bodies, including the WHO and the Human Rights Council, as well as UNESCO. They have also cut their contributions to the UN extremely sharply, with drastic effects on the ground.
Will the UN survive these tensions?
– Yes, I think so. There are few documents as strong as the UN Charter. We are currently living in a time when the situation is very bleak, when we small and medium-sized states must stand up for international law. I used to tell my colleagues who were discouraged that we must understand the world as it is, but we must never forget the world as it should be. Right now there is a great distance between the two.
Trump wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, how does that fit with his UN policy?
– I think it is a mistake not to include the body responsible for international peace and security. He has a chance to show that if he wants to be a president of peace, to act on both the Ukraine and Gaza issues in such a way that we get peace.
– I hope the US realizes that good international solutions are in their national interest, that's how we get peace and development.
