For over a decade the Global Centre has sought to clearly articulate the nature of the risks to populations in Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and of the crimes being perpetrated in Gaza. Following the onset of Israel’s military assault and complete siege on Gaza, on 20 October 2023 the Global Centre organized a briefing for over 80 member states, including R2P Focal Points, on the situation with speakers from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the World Health Organization and local NGOs. At the start of the crisis, the Global Centre’s publications helped bridge the gap between civil society and protesters, who immediately and vocally utilized the language of genocide, and policymakers, who in many cases downplayed the clear risk of atrocity crimes in the OPT. This includes our detailed analysis on likely atrocity crimes and the imminent risk of potential further atrocities in a commentary.

The Global Centre has maintained this strong framing in all our work, utilizing a fact-based narrative focused on the reality for Palestinian populations across the OPT, as well as the credible investigations by independent experts, human rights organizations, UN commissions and international courts. Global Centre staff have shared analysis with mainstream media outlets, such as Al Jazeera, and in policy and academic circles, including at the UN, Yale University and universities across Germany.

In Global Centre briefings to governments and through our publications, such as Atrocity Alert, and numerous joint NGO letters, we have reminded states of their legal obligations under the Genocide Convention and international humanitarian and human rights law, as well as of their commitments to upholding R2P and respect for international judicial institutions and processes.

#CEASEFIRENOW Advocacy

The Global Centre has advocated for a permanent ceasefire through public and private advocacy meetings and is seen as a credible voice on the crisis.

Together, with a coalition of Palestinian, regional and international organizations, the Global Centre has advocated for a comprehensive, lasting ceasefire and other measures to alleviate suffering, advance accountability and prevent further atrocity crimes. The Global Centre has also been part of the ongoing #CeasefireNOW global advocacy campaign. In February 2025 we released analysis highlighting some of the most pertinent concerns that Israel, Hamas and the international community should confront today given the enduring risks of ethnic cleansing, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In May 2025 we joined Palestinian civil society, along with over 1,000 other organizations, in calling for the international community to confront the famine in Gaza and launch a humanitarian diplomatic convoy to break Israel’s siege on Gaza, which had been reimposed on 2 March, halting the entry of all humanitarian aid and commercial goods.

Mobilizing action on the creation of a UN Commission of Inquiry

For more than a decade the Global Centre has engaged in targeted and intensive advocacy campaigns to mobilize the UN system to address the root causes of recurring and ongoing persecution of and violations against Palestinians.

Many of the Global Centre’s publications have contextualized the enduring risk of further atrocities in the OPT, including urging the international community to compel Israel to end its blockade on Gaza and its illegal occupation and settlement-related activity and repeal its likely apartheid policies.

Ahead of a special session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on 27 May 2021, the Global Centre engaged in an advocacy campaign, urging the Council to establish an independent international Commission of Inquiry (CoI) mandated to address the root causes of violations of international law in the OPT, specifically through an open-ended mandate given the systematic nature of ongoing violations. Following these efforts, for the first time in history, the HRC adopted a resolution establishing a CoI on Israel and the OPT with such a mandate. Notably, the CoI was mandated to investigate all international law violations leading up to and since April 2021, as well as to identify the root causes of recurrent tensions and instability, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity in the OPT, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel.