UITED NATIONS, Jul 13 (APP):The forced eviction and displacement of the Ghaith-Sub Laban family and many other Palestinian families in east Jerusalem by Israel may amount to a war crime of forcible transfer and must be immediately reversed, UN experts have said.

In a statement issued Wednesday by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), the experts said it was “deeply shocking and heartbreaking” to see an elderly Palestinian couple, Nora Ghaith and Mustafa Sub Laban, evicted from their family home where they lived all their lives and raised their children.

“As we have repeatedly said, forced evictions of Palestinians in east Jerusalem are part of Israel’s apartheid machinery at work, designed to consolidate Jewish ownership of Jerusalem and racially dominate the city’s population,” the experts, including Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, said.

According to the news release, Israeli police evicted Nora Ghaith and Mustafa Sub Laban from their home in the Old City of Jerusalem in the early hours of 11 July.

The Ghaith-Sub Laban family, who had a protected lease on the house since 1953, reportedly faced constant harassment and lawsuits from Israeli authorities and settlers seeking to seize their home under an inherently discriminatory law that applies to Palestinians in east Jerusalem, the release added.

The experts noted that the case of the Ghaith Sub-Laban family was representative of a widespread and systematic practice by Israel to forcibly evict and displace Palestinians from east Jerusalem and “de-palestinize” the city. Across east Jerusalem, there are reportedly around 150 Palestinian families at risk of forced eviction and displacement by Israeli authorities and settler organizations.

“Israel’s transfer of its own population into the occupied territory is a gross violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime […] Nothing speaks more blatantly of its intention to annex and colonize the occupied territory in violation of international law,” they said.

“Israel must immediately cease these deliberate acts, which not only deliberately violate Palestinians’ rights to self-determination, non-discrimination, development, adequate housing and property, but also traumatize the affected family and the entire Palestinian community living defenceless under Israeli rule, and violate the fundamental norms and principles of international law,” the experts added.

The Human Rights Council-appointed experts added that it is “the duty of other States to put an end to the unrelenting assaults on the system of international law.”

According to the news release, the experts have repeatedly raised these issues with the Government of Israel without any response to date.

In addition to Ms. Albanese, the rights experts voicing concern included the special rapporteurs on violence against women and girls, contemporary forms of racism, human rights of internally displaced persons, and the right to development; the independent expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons; and members of the working group on discrimination against women and girls.

BEIJING, July 13 (APP):Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque said that China is a major export market for Pakistani products and the government is working together to further enhance the access of Pakistani products to the untapped sector of the Chinese market.

“Our two countries have a robust trade and investment cooperation, which is very essential for Pakistan’s economy.

As our largest trading partner, China is a major export market for Pakistani products, and we are working together to further enhance the access of Pakistani products to untapped sectors of the Chinese markets,” he said while talking to The Nation and Nawa-i-Waqt dailies.

The ambassador said Pakistan takes pride in its special friendship with China which is time-tested and timeless. “Our relations with China are based on strong political support, strategic trust and practical cooperation. A heart-to-heart relationship between our two peoples enjoying support across the political spectrum. No wonder, this friendship remains the cornerstone of our foreign policy.”

Ambassador said that China has recently lifted its Covid-related travel restrictions and opened up international travel. This naturally has a positive impact on various sectors of the Chinese economy, including trade and tourism. The re-opening has resulted in enhanced bilateral interaction between our two countries. Many high-level visits took place in the last few months.

As China-Pakistan celebrate the Year of Tourism Exchanges this year, both countries are looking forward to enhancing cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Talking about ML-1, he said, in line with the leadership consensus, the relevant institutions from both sides are making earnest efforts to finalize all arrangements and launch the project this year.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, China provided us critical support, especially in supplying over 160 million vaccine doses which were the mainstay of our inoculation drive. China was the top country in providing generous assistance after the unprecedented floods of last year.

Talking about Pakistani students, he said, China is a popular and the largest destination for Pakistani students. The pre-Covid figure stands at 28,000 students enrolled all across China in various disciplines, including medicine, engineering, IT, science, humanities, and modern arts, among others.

After the lifting of Covid-related travel restrictions, students already enrolled in different disciplines have started coming back to resume on-campus classes along with new entrants.

Talking about his professional career, he said, I have had a career spanning more than three and a half decades in the foreign service of Pakistan.

During this time, I had a number of assignments at the headquarters and at the Missions abroad. Before my appointment to China in August 2020, I was serving as Pakistan’s Ambassador to France. When I landed here, face-to-face interactions with the community was a bit difficult because of Covid.

However, this did not stop us for keeping regular engagement with them through online meetings and launching various initiatives for the community.

The first priority was to begin the repatriation of Pakistani students to China, who had been stranded because of the closing of borders and the across-the-board restrictions on the travelling of international students back to China. Pakistan was among the first few countries whose students returned to China after Covid, he said.

Another key objective was to ensure community’s enhanced access to the embassy, for which we introduced a digital registra­tion system. We also launched a dedicated professionals forum, an important platform for Pakistani professionals to engage, discuss and give suggestions for enhanced cooperation between China and Pakistan.
Thirdly, we launched an online portal for Pakistani students and professionals, where they can connect, share their achievements, experiences and network for their job hunt in China and Pakistan.

The students and aspiring professionals can share their CVs and find potential employment opportunities. During my almost three years in China, serving the Pakistani community has been a privileged and a priority.

I firmly believe that overseas Pakistanis, who are our assets hardworking, vibrant and patriotic and play a key role as Pakistan’s ambassador in promoting its interests and strengthening relationships with the host countries.

To further bolster our people-to-people ties, China and Pakistan decided to celebrate 2023 as China-Pakistan Year of Tourism Exchanges.

In this year, both our sides would be carrying on a series of activities to celebrate our friendship, raise awareness about each other’s tourism potential and welcome tourists from each other’s countries.

We have increased the visibility of Pakistani tourist landscapes on Chinese social media platforms with targeted marketing companies.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 13 (APP):Pakistani education advocate and UN Messenger of Peace, Malala Yousafzai, has told a gathering in Abuja, Nigeria, that the world must do more to ensure that more than 120 million girls who are out of school can do get an education

The Nobel laureate was speaking exactly 10 years after her landmark ‘Malala Day’ address to youth at UN Headquarters in New York, where she called for global action against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism, according to a press release issued at UN Headquarters in New York.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed introduced Malala, saying she has transcended borders, cultures and generations, while her message and passion have touched people everywhere.

“Malala keeps daring us to imagine: to imagine a world with less intolerance, more understanding and respect. A world of less hate and more humanity. A world of less bigotry and more equality. A world of less ignorance, and more education and knowledge,” Ms. Mohammed said.

She added that both the UN and Malala know that quality education for both girls and boys “is not a dream, but it’s a fundamental human right.”

In the years since her UN speech, Malala has completed high school and university, travelled to more than 30 countries, and established an eponymous fund working to reduce barriers to girls’ education.

“I gave a lot of speeches and talked to many leaders,” Malala said. “In everything that I did, I tried to draw the world’s attention to girls like me – the nearly 120 million girls denied the right to education by poverty, patriarchy, climate and conflict.”

During that time, Malala also spent her birthday traveling to different countries to meet with local girls, including refugees in Jordan, Iraq, Kenya and Rwanda, and indigenous girls in Brazil.

She has made three trips to Nigeria alone, meeting with activists and young women, and also with parents whose daughters were among the 276 girls abducted in the Chibok school kidnapping in 2014.

Malala shared the stories of some of the young women she has met over the years who have gone on to earn university degrees and even start working.

“We should celebrate the girl who goes to university, takes a job, chooses when and if she marries. But we should not deceive ourselves into thinking that we have made enough progress,” she warned.

“I want to cheer for those who have made it, despite the challenges they faced. But my heart aches for those who we failed. Every young woman like me has friends we saw being left behind – those whose governments, communities and families held them back.”

Malala praised global initiatives to boost education and gender equality, which will help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of quality education for all by 2030. Yet she again stressed that “this handful of victories can’t hide how little has changed for hundreds of millions of girls”, including due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Malala also highlighted the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to power two years ago. Previously, one in three women there were enrolled in university, she said, but today it is the only country in the world where women and girls are banned from pursuing an education.

“Even as a teenager, I understood that progress could be slow,” she said. “But I never expected to witness a complete reversal. An entire country of girls locked out of school, trapped in their homes, and losing hope.”

In her powerful speech at the UN in 2013, the 16-year-old Malala famously declared that “one child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.” Her youthful optimism has since been tempered.

“I will tell you today what I did not know then. One child, even with the best resources and encouragement, one child can’t change the world. Neither can one president or prime minister,” she said.

“One teacher, one activist, one parent – no one can change the world on their own. What is true is that change can begin with just one person.”

Malala called for joining forces to build a world where all children have access to 12 years of quality education, while leaders must be held accountable for their commitments to gender equality and education.

She also underlined the importance of communities. “I believe that so many of the problems girls face would be solved if we could break the stranglehold of patriarchy, the misogyny, we disguise as a cultural tradition or religion,” she said.

Malala revealed that when she was 16, she could not have imagined what the decade ahead would hold, although she was hopeful.

“Today, I can see the future more clearly because I have met our future leaders. Girls understand the power of education and they’re working to open the school gates wide enough for every child to enter,” she said.

“I know that if we match their determination, fund their work and follow their lead, we will see so much progress in the next 10 years.”

As part of her visit, on Tuesday, the Deputy Secretary-General travelled to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, with Malala and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai who is a co-founder of the Malala Fund.

The delegation visited three schools all of which focus on providing quality education to girls, many of whom have been impacted by violence.

Ms. Mohammed is headed next to the Belgian capital Brussels, where she will join the Secretary-General in UN-European Union meetings, the UN said.