TWN Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (May21/11)
31 May 2021
Third World Network

UN: HRC establishes probe to investigate violations in Palestine & Israel
Published in SUNS #9355 dated 31 May 2021

Geneva, 28 May (Kanaga Raja) – The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday decided to urgently establish an ongoing independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, leading up to and since 13 April 2021.

In a resolution (A/HRC/S-30/L.1), adopted by a vote of 24 in favour, 9 against and 14 abstentions, and as orally revised, the Council called upon all relevant parties to cooperate fully with the commission of inquiry and to facilitate its access.

Those that voted in favour of the resolution were: Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Eritrea, Gabon, Indonesia, Libya, Mauritania, Mexico, Namibia, Pakistan, Philippines, Russian Federation, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.

Those that voted against were: Austria, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Czech Republic, Germany, Malawi, Marshall Islands, United Kingdom, and Uruguay.

Bahamas, Brazil, Denmark, Fiji, France, India, Italy, Japan, Nepal, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Korea, Togo, and Ukraine abstained in the vote.

The resolution was adopted at the end of a one-day special session on Thursday on the “grave human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”.

In a statement at the special session, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Michele Bachelet, said the appalling events in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territory have once again called this Council into Special Session.

“We have recently witnessed the most significant escalation in hostilities since 2014. According to figures verified by my Office, 242 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Security Forces (the ISF) in strikes on Gaza, including 63 children. Thousands of others have been injured while it is estimated that over 74,000 Palestinians have been displaced,” she added.

“In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, 28 Palestinians, including five children, were killed as of 24 May.”

“At the same time, rockets launched by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups killed 10 Israeli citizens and residents including two children, and forced thousands into shelters,” Ms Bachelet said.

The High Commissioner said that this escalation was directly linked to protests and a heavy response from Israeli security forces first in East Jerusalem, then spreading to the entire occupied Palestinian territory and also within Israel.

She said that two main issues led to the rise in tensions.

The imminent evictions of Palestinian families and their forced displacement in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem, to make way for settlers; and the ISF deployment at the Al Aqsa compound, restricting access to thousands of worshippers during the last days of Ramadan.

On several occasions, the ISF used force against peaceful protesters and worshippers inside Al Aqsa Mosque.

On other occasions, as demonstrations turned into clashes, they resorted to crowd control means utilizing excessive force, including physical violence, which inflamed tensions, said Ms Bachelet.

The latest escalation between Israel and Palestinian armed groups erupted on 10 May, when Hamas, the de facto authorities in the Gaza Strip, demanded that Israeli forces leave the Al Aqsa compound and Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem.

When this did not occur, Hamas and other armed groups launched a heavy rocket barrage towards Israel, she said.

These rockets are indiscriminate and fail to distinguish between military and civilian objects, and their use, thereby, constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law, Ms Bachelet added.

Over the 11 days up to the ceasefire, a number of these rockets killed and injured civilians and caused significant damage to civilian objects, such as public facilities, houses, factories and other civilian structures.

According to the High Commissioner, Israel responded with intense airstrikes in Gaza including shelling, missiles fired from fighter aircraft and attacks from the sea.

“Although reportedly targeting members of armed groups and their military infrastructure, Israeli attacks resulted in extensive civilian deaths and injuries, as well as large-scale destruction and damage to civilian objects,” she said.

Those include governmental buildings, residential homes and apartment buildings, international humanitarian organizations, medical facilities, media offices and roads connecting civilians to essential services such as hospitals.

“The result was their partial or total destruction. Despite Israel’s claims that many of these buildings were hosting armed groups or being used for military purposes, we have not seen evidence in this regard,” said Ms Bachelet.

Although Israel undertook a number of precautions, such as advance warning of attacks in some cases, airstrikes in such densely populated areas resulted in a high level of civilian fatalities and injuries, as well as the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, she added.

“Such strikes raise serious concerns of Israel’s compliance with the principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law. If found to be indiscriminate and disproportionate in their impact on civilians and civilian objects, such attacks may constitute war crimes.”

On the other hand, it is also a violation of international humanitarian law to locate military assets in densely populated civilian areas or to launch attacks from them.

However, the actions of one party do not absolve the other from its obligations under international law, said the High Commissioner.

Unlike Israeli civilians, who have the benefit of the “Iron Dome” and professional military forces to assist in their protection, Palestinian civilians have virtually no protection against airstrikes and military operations carried out in one of the most densely populated areas of the world, she added.

“They have no place to escape to, due to the Israeli land, air and sea blockade that has been in place for the last 14 years.”

As a result of this blockade, Palestinians in Gaza have suffered from a crumbling infrastructure and diminished access to basic services, including inadequate health services and a decaying sewage system that poses a direct threat to the health and well-being of all civilians resident there, said the High Commissioner.

“The incapacity of the health system to comprehensively respond to COVID-19 in the recent surge in cases made this deterioration particularly evident. To obtain appropriate health care, many Palestinians are forced to travel abroad subject to permission by Israel, which is frequently denied.”

“There is no doubt that Israel has the right to defend its citizens and residents. However, Palestinians have rights too. The same rights,” said Ms Bachelet.

She said they too have the right to live safely and freely in their homes, with adequate and essential services and opportunities, and with respect for their right to life and physical integrity.

The lived reality of the occupation, however, is that they are instead systematically deprived of fundamental rights and freedoms due to every human being, she added.

While the High Commissioner welcomed the ceasefire of 21 May, she said that it is clear that unless the root causes of this violence are addressed, it will sadly be a matter of time until the next round of violence commences, with further pain and suffering for civilians on all sides.

“There must be a genuine and inclusive peace process to address these root causes and bring the occupation to an end,” she said.

According to Ms Bachelet, in any such processes and for any resulting agreements, the respect and protection of human rights must be fundamental, including accountability for past human rights violations and abuses.

The High Commissioner said only when human rights are fully respected and protected can trust start to be built between the various communities and a durable, lasting and just peace be achieved.

In a joint statement with the Coordination Committee of the Special Procedures at the special session, Mr Michael Lynk, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, said: “What we have witnessed in Gaza these past few weeks haunts the conscience of the world.”

Approximately 242 Palestinians killed, the majority of whom are civilians and at least 63 who were children.

“Almost 2,000 were injured. There has been massive property destruction. All of this at the hands of one of the best equipped militaries in the modern world,” he added.

Rockets from Palestinian armed groups have killed 12 civilians in Israel. Many Israeli civilians have lived through a state of fear and suffered damage to their properties.

Along the way, the strict prohibitions of international humanitarian law which bind all of these combatants have almost certainly been breached, said the Special Rapporteur.

“If we are not to have to meet again in yet another special session in a year or three years from now, to lament yet another round of appalling violence in Palestine, then decisive steps must be taken now to fully end the occupation. Accountability is the key that alone can unlock the titanium cage that is the occupation,” he added.

HRC ESTABLISHES COMMISSION OF INQUIRY

In the resolution adopted at the special session on Thursday, the Human Rights Council decided to “urgently establish an ongoing independent, international commission of inquiry, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council, to investigate in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel all alleged violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law leading up to and since 13 April 2021, and all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity.”

The Council also decided that the commission of inquiry shall:

(a) Establish the facts and circumstances that may amount to such violations and abuses and of crimes perpetrated;

(b) Collect, consolidate and analyze evidence of such violations and abuses and of crimes perpetrated, and systematically record and preserve all information, documentation and evidence, including interviews, witness testimony and forensic material, in accordance with international law standards, in order to maximize the possibility of its admissibility in legal proceedings;

(c) Have the capacity to document and verify relevant information and evidence, including through field engagement and by cooperating with judicial and other entities, as appropriate;

(d) Identify, where possible, those responsible, with a view to ensuring that perpetrators of violations are held accountable;

(e) Identify patterns of violations over time by analyzing the similarities in findings and recommendations with and of previous United Nations fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry on the situation;

(f) Make recommendations, in particular on accountability measures, all with a view to avoiding and ending impunity and ensuring legal accountability, including individual criminal and command responsibility, for such violations, and justice for victims;

(g) Make recommendations on measures to be taken by third States to ensure respect for international humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, in accordance with article 1 common to the Geneva Conventions, and in fulfilment of their obligations under articles 146, 147 and 148 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, including by ensuring that they do not aid or assist in the commission of internationally wrongful acts;

(h) Report on its main activities on an annual basis to the Human Rights Council under agenda item 2 as of its fiftieth session, and to the General Assembly as of its seventy-seventh session.

The Council called upon all States, and encouraged civil society, the media and other relevant stakeholders, to cooperate fully with the commission of inquiry to allow it to effectively fulfil its mandate and, in particular, to provide it with any information or documentation they may possess or come to possess, as well as any other form of assistance pertaining to their respective mandates.

It called upon relevant organs, bodies and agencies of the United Nations system to cooperate fully with the commission of inquiry and to respond promptly to any request made by it, including with regard to access to all relevant information and documentation.

The Council requested the Secretary-General to allocate the resources necessary for the implementation of the present resolution and for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to provide the logistical and technical resources necessary to support the functioning of the Commission of Inquiry.

It urged all States to refrain from transferring arms when they assess, in accordance with applicable national procedures and international obligations and standards, that there is a clear risk that such arms might be used in the commission or facilitation of serious violations or abuses of international human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law.

The Council called upon all States, international agencies and other donors to urgently mobilize humanitarian support for the Palestinian civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to address their prevailing needs.

It also called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to ensure the unimpeded delivery of that humanitarian assistance.

The Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to provide an oral update on the progress made on the implementation of the present resolution to the Human Rights Council at its forty-eighth session.