PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY 2 OCTOBER 2025, 15:00 CET
SRI DEMANDS AN END TO THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA AND THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALL GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA ABDUCTEES
Geneva, Switzerland
On 2 October 2025, several members of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) were kidnapped by Israel following an illegal interception of the flotilla boats in international waters. The Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI) joins the calls from activists around the world to demand an end to the genocide in Gaza and the immediate release of all Global Sumud Flotilla abductees.
Carrie Shelver, the coordinator of SRI’s Geneva office, has joined the flotilla as part of the Swiss Waves of Freedom delegation in a personal capacity. Carrie, as well as the Wahoo vessel crew she was sailing with, lost contact with the flotilla organisers several hours ago, and are assumed to have been illegally intercepted. SRI supports her efforts to be part of a collective action to break the illegal siege on Gaza by sea, open a humanitarian corridor, and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.
The Global Sumud Flotilla represents the largest civilian maritime initiative organised to challenge Israel’s unlawful siege on Gaza. Bringing together grassroots organisers, seafarers, medical professionals, artists, and solidarity activists from more than 40 countries, it constitutes a nonviolent humanitarian effort in response to the ongoing situation in Gaza.
The dire situation in Gaza is beyond dispute. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, confirmed in September through a report, what Palestinians, journalists and activists have been documenting: that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza consistent with the definition set out by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Imposing a total siege of the strip and blocking most humanitarian aid, leading to starvation, is one of the many genocidal acts identified by the Commission of Inquiry.
The naval blockade of Gaza by the apartheid regime violates international law, and the interception of the vessels of the flotilla is therefore illegal, as also highlighted by multiple independent human rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, has recently stated that any interception of the flotilla "would be yet another violation of international law, the law of the sea".
Beyond ensuring the immediate release of the Global Sumud Flotilla members and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, states have an obligation to address the ongoing impunity, violence, and unlawful killings of Palestinians, to dismantle the structures of colonial apartheid, and to guarantee the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination. We reiterate that the Global Sumud Flotilla was formed in response to states’ failure to uphold their obligations, compelling civilians to embark on a humanitarian mission to end the siege.
Media contact
For media inquiries, interviews, or more information, please contact Caroline Tagny ([email protected]).
About SRI
The Sexual Rights Initiative is a coalition of national and regional organisations based in Canada, India, Egypt, and Argentina that work together to advance human rights related to sexuality at the United Nations. The SRI aims to advance sexual rights as a particular set of rights and as a cross-cutting issue within international law. The SRI combines feminist analysis with important advances in the recognition of human rights of women, all marginalised communities, and young people.