The United Nations Human Rights Council-appointed Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Ms. Dr. Alice Jill Edwards called for all Israeli hostages held in Gaza to be unconditionally released immediately.
Sudden terror attack on the dawn of 7 October 2023 by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in southern Israel took hostage nearly 250 Israelis and foreign–including Nepalese—nationals. Ninety-seven hostages are still unaccounted.
Speaking with the press at the UN Headquarters in New York, the UN independent human rights expert on protection from torture condemned the killing of hostages and urged for an immediate end to hostilities on all fronts.
Describing the ongoing conflict as a “devastating and deeply painful” one that has claimed thousands of lives, an Australian lawyer and scholar Ms. Dr. Edward also voiced “extreme concern” over reports that some female hostages had been subjected to sexual violence.
“I believe human rights apply to everyone without distinction of any kind,” stressed Ms. Edwards, who has been discharging the capacity voluntarily since July 2022.
Had served as a board member of the Geneva Academy Dr Alice Jill Edwards is also an adjunct faculty member at Oxford University’s Master of Studies in International Human Rights Law, board member of leading academic journals including Migration Studies, the Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies.
She was also a Head of the Secretariat of the Convention against Torture Initiative (CTI) and was Chief of Section – Protection Policy and Legal Advice – at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva.
Dr Edwards has held permanent and adjunct academic appointments at world-leading universities including Oxford, London and Nottingham.
Worked for Amnesty International in London and a development NGO in Mozambique Dr Edwards is also a recipient of the Audre Rapoport Prize for Scholarship on the Human Rights of Women.
