TWN Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Jul21/16)
27 July 2021
Third World Network

UN: Members of probe appointed to investigate violations in Palestine & Israel
Published in SUNS #9394 dated 26 July 2021

Geneva, 23 Jul (Kanaga Raja) – The President of the United Nations Human Rights Council on 22 July announced the appointment of the three members of the commission of inquiry set up 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.

According to a UN press release, the President of the Council, Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan from Fiji, has appointed Ms Navi Pillay (South Africa), Mr Miloon Kothari (India) and Mr Chris Sidoti (Australia) as members of the commission of inquiry, with Ms Pillay serving as chair of the three-person commission.

All three members of the commission will be serving in their personal capacities.

In a resolution that was adopted by a vote at the end of a one-day special session on 27 May, 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 (in June 2022), and to the General Assembly as of its seventy-seventh session (in September 2022).

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 (see SUNS #9355 dated 31 May 2021).

The chair of the commission of inquiry, Ms Navi Pillay from South Africa, had served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.

She is currently serving as Judge Ad Hoc of the International Court of Justice in the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v Myanmar).

Ms Pillay is also the President of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty based in Madrid, the President of the Advisory Council of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy and the Chair of the Quasi- Judicial Inquiry into Detention in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Mr Miloon Kothari from India served as the first UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing from 2000 to 2008.

Since February 2021, Mr Kothari has been a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

Meanwhile, Mr Chris Sidoti from Australia is an international human rights consultant and an expert in national human rights institutions and in international human rights law and mechanisms.

Since February 2021, he has been the founder and an International Expert of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar.