One of the world’s leading human rights lawyers visited Wollongong last week, sharing a message of determination and hope.

Chris Sidoti is a United Nations commissioner who worked on a report published in March titled “More than a human can bear: Israel's systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since 7 October 2023”. The inquiry drew the world’s attention to the “disproportionate violence” against Palestinian women and children in the war in Gaza.

“Something like 60 percent of at least 52,000 fatalities are women and children … of those, 33 percent are women and girls,” Chris told the audience at last Wednesday’s event at Project Contemporary Artspace.

He said the proportion of fatalities has doubled among women and girls in Gaza conflicts over the past 20 years and that, “Residential buildings now are being targeted like they have never been targeted before.”

Illawarra Women’s Health Centre organised the talk and afterwards Chris told The Illawarra Flame that he accepts as many invitations as he can to address people, from local meetings to global webinars to press conferences in New York and Geneva covered by UN TV.

“I think I've got a responsibility, sitting on a UN Commission of Inquiry, to tell people who want to listen what we're doing, why we're doing it, and what we found. It's about sharing our information with as wide an audience as possible.”

Town hall events like Wednesday’s gathering are “really important”, he said.

“Because these are people who have got an interest, who are looking for information and are looking for ideas. I have no doubt my experience in talking to 100 people like tonight – which I thought was an extraordinary number to turn up to a meeting – talking to 100 people who are interested and committed and want to do something can often be far more effective than five million clicks on Tiktok.

“You heard the energy and the enthusiasm in the room tonight … so for me, how do I stay hopeful? By coming to things like this.”

Crowd gathered in Artspace

Nearly 100 people, including Wollongong Greens councillor Deidre Stuart and Illawarra Greens convenor Cath Blakey, attended the ‘Palestinian Women: 'More than a human can bear’ event, with the audience seated in a gallery surrounded by school children's artworks.

In her Welcome to Country, Dr Aunty Barbara Nicholson expressed her grief at Palestinian women’s plight. “Why do we feel such empathy?” she said. “Because we have shared experiences as a colonised people. Aboriginal women were routinely used as weapons of war.”

Sara Saleh, a Lebanese Palestinian human rights lawyer, activist and author, led a panel discussion that included Palestinian Illawarra activist Safaa Rayan – who praised the region’s working-class history and grassroots response to injustice – and Dr Bushra Othman, a Palestinian Australian surgeon who has volunteered at Shuhada Al Aqsa Hospital, twice travelling to Gaza last year.

'A critical record'

Sara Saleh thanked Chris for a “very sobering” speech. “It’s also such a critical record of testimony. It's a record for us to be able to use. It's an archive.”

Chris said it is important to acknowledge suffering. “Simply recording the authoritative account of what has happened is the very least that victims are entitled to. And that was a lesson that I learned when doing the Stolen Generation reporting.”

A former Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Chris is working on the Human Rights Council’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. The chair is Navi Pillay, a South African human rights lawyer known for her courage and leadership dating back to apartheid.

“Navi says that she sees a great deal of similarity in the Palestine situation and the South African situation – and Nelson Mandela said that 30 years ago,” Chris said.

Doctor gives first-hand account

During the panel discussion, Dr Bushra Othman shared her distress at being a surgeon unable to operate at her full potential in Gaza. She told how, when not permitted to take medical supplies, she’d packed treats for children in hospital.

“I felt pretty ashamed trying to give out lollipops to kids that were starving, but that was all we had at that point,” she said.

“Put aside even the fact that I don't have sterile gloves, I don't have antibiotics, I don't have adequate pain relief, I don't have water or power or electricity … in order for me to be able to do my job.

“I would have the nurses constantly asking me for sanitary pads, shampoo and conditioner. I mean, people have had their hair fall out because they aren't able to be able to wash properly.”

The UN Commissioner said Australians can call for change.

“They can do things politically, in that now that the government has been re elected overwhelmingly, hopefully it can start looking at good policy again, rather than its re-election prospects, and focus on what we can do that is more comprehensive and more effective than what has happened to date," Chris said.

“There are also things that people need to look at personally … in their pattern of consumption, what they buy and what they use … Is there any possibility of their purchases, their investments, aiding and abetting the unlawful activities? We don't have to wait for governments to change our own personal lifestyle.”

Challenge of bearing witness

While his investigations inform governments and help accountability, Chris acknowledged the immediate aid of doctors, telling Dr Bushra Othman: “I feel keenly every day that I cannot say that one child is alive because of our work, not one.

“You can – maybe I should have been a doctor, rather than a lawyer.”

“Yet – not one kid yet,” replied moderator Sara Saleh.

The meeting ended with an expression of hope, as Malika Reese, Wollongong’s 2025 Citizen of the Year, led the crowd in song.

“We will live in peace,” she sang. “Some day…”

For more information about the Commission of Inquiry, visit the UN webpage