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Posted 4:48 PM
by Mary
A United Nations investigator has defended a report published earlier this month that accuses Israel and Palestinian fighters of war crimes following the Israeli offensive in Gaza earlier this year.
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, Richard Goldstone said a lack of accountability for war crimes committed in the Middle East had reached "crisis point", undermining any hope for peace in the region.
The former South African judge rejected criticism by Israel that the 575-page report was politically motivated. He said his team was led by a belief in the rule of law, human rights and the need to protect civilians during war. Goldstone said the report had investigated 36 incidents surrounding Israel's military operation.
"A culture of impunity in the region has existed for too long, the lack of accountability for war crimes and possible war crimes against humanity has reached a crisis point," he said.
"The ongoing lack of justice is undermining any hope for a successful peace process and reinforcing an environment that fosters violence."
Goldstone's report urged the UN Security Council to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court in The Hague if either Israeli or Palestinian authorities failed to investigate and prosecute those suspected of such crimes within six months.
Michael Posner, the US assistant secretary of state, called on Israel on Tuesday to conduct credible investigations into the allegations, saying it would help the Middle East peace process.
Labels: Israel, war crimes
Posted 3:16 PM
by Mary
With aim of nuke-free world, UN Security Council adopts anti-atomic resolution
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- A historic resolution enhancing efforts toward nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation was unanimously adopted on Thursday at a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama.
"I called for this one so that we may address at the highest level fundamental threat to all peoples and all nations, the spread and use of nuclear weapons," said Obama.
This is the fist time a U.S. president has chaired a Council meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the annual debate of the UN General Assembly. World leaders including Chinese President Hu Jintao and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown attended the special nuclear session --the fourth time such a meeting was convened in the six decades of UN history.
Resolution 1887 endorses nations to begin talks on nuclear arms reduction and to negotiate "a treaty on general and complete disarmament." The resolution does not single out any countries but Obama named Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in reference to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
"We made it clear that the Security Council has both the authority and the responsibility to determine and respond as necessary when violations of this treaty threaten international peace and security," he said. "That includes full compliance with Security Council resolutions on Iran and North Korea. Let me be clear. This is not about singling out nations; it is about standing up for the rights of all nations who do live up to their responsibilities," he said.
But a well-placed senior UN diplomat told Xinhua that the resolution, while a welcome step, does not go far enough. It leaves out key points, most notably the establishment of a subsidiary body on non-proliferation and disarmament and support for reform of the 15-nation Council to make it more effective in responding to violations of international obligations.
In his statement, Obama acknowledged the resolution acted more as "a broad framework for action." Also lacking is any demand for a halt in the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons by all states possessing nuclear arsenals. Instead, it urges nations attending the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva to negotiate a treaty banning the production of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium "as soon as possible."
The resolution also urges nations to strengthen the NPT, which has limited the spread of nuclear weapons. The NPT review conference in May will be an attempt to reinforce the treaty's three pillars: non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
The next 12 months, said Obama, will be critical in determining whether Resolution 1887 is successful. For its part, he said, the United States is pushing a new agreement with Russia to substantially reduce strategic warheads and launch vehicles.
The United States will also ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which was being discussed just down the hall in the United Nations. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led the American delegation at a two-day meeting to promote the entry into force of the CTBT, which turned 13 years old on Thursday.
The treaty has been signed by 181 nations and ratified by 149. Foreign ministers at the CTBT conference are expected to issue a final declaration calling upon countries to ratify the treaty.
"We harbor no illusions about the difficulty of bringing about a world without nuclear weapons," said Obama. "We know there are plenty of cynics and that there will be setbacks to prove their point."
"But there will also be days like today that push us forward, days that tell a different story," he said. "It is the story of a world that understands that no difference or division is worth destroying all that we have built and all that we love."
Labels: NPT, Obama
Posted 11:08 PM
by Mary
UN Fact Finding Mission finds strong evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Gaza conflict;calls for end to impunity
15 September 2009
NEW YORK / GENEVA – The UN Fact-Finding Mission led by Justice Richard Goldstone on Tuesday released its long-awaited report on the Gaza conflict, in which it concluded there is evidence indicating serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel during the Gaza conflict, and that Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity.
The report also concludes there is also evidence that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity, in their repeated launching of rockets and mortars into Southern Israel.
The four members of the Mission* were appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council in April with a mandate to "To investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after."
In compiling the 574- page report, which contains detailed analysis of 36 specific incidents in Gaza, as well as a number of others in the West Bank and Israel, the Mission conducted 188 individual interviews, reviewed more 10,000 pages of documentation, and viewed some 1,200 photographs, including satellite imagery, as well as 30 videos. The mission heard 38 testimonies during two separate public hearings held in Gaza and Geneva, which were webcast in their entirety. The decision to hear participants from Israel and the West Bank in Geneva rather than in situ was taken after Israel denied the Mission access to both locations. Israel also failed to respond to a comprehensive list of questions posed to it by the Mission. Palestinian authorities in both Gaza and the West Bank cooperated with the Mission.
The Mission found that, in the lead up to the Israeli military assault on Gaza, Israel imposed a blockade amounting to collective punishment and carried out a systematic policy of progressive isolation and deprivation of the Gaza Strip. During the Israeli military operation, code-named "Operation Cast Lead," houses, factories, wells, schools, hospitals, police stations and other public buildings were destroyed. Families are still living amid the rubble of their former homes long after the attacks ended, as reconstruction has been impossible due to the continuing blockade. More than 1,400 people were killed during the military operation.
Significant trauma, both immediate and long-term, has been suffered by the population of Gaza. The Report notes signs of profound depression, insomnia and effects such as bed-wetting among children. The effects on children who witnessed killings and violence, who had thought they were facing death, and who lost family members would be long lasting, the Mission found, noting in its Report that some 30 per cent of children screened at UNRWA schools suffered mental health problems.
The report concludes that the Israeli military operation was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall and continuing policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population, and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population. The destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems, concrete factories and residential houses was the result of a deliberate and systematic policy which has made the daily process of living, and dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population.
The Report states that Israeli acts that deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of their means of subsistence, employment, housing and water, that deny their freedom of movement and their right to leave and enter their own country, that limit their rights to access a court of law and an effective remedy, could lead a competent court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity, has been committed.
The report underlines that in most of the incidents investigated by it, and described in the report, loss of life and destruction caused by Israeli forces during the military operation was a result of disrespect for the fundamental principle of "distinction" in international humanitarian law that requires military forces to distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects at all times. The report states that "Taking into account the ability to plan, the means to execute plans with the most developed technology available, and statements by the Israeli military that almost no errors occurred, the Mission finds that the incidents and patterns of events considered in the report are the result of deliberate planning and policy decisions."
For example, Chapter XI of the report describes a number of specific incidents in which Israeli forces launched "direct attacks against civilians with lethal outcome." These are, it says, cases in which the facts indicate no justifiable military objective pursued by the attack and concludes they amount to war crimes.
The incidents described include:
Attacks in the Samouni neighbourhood, in Zeitoun, south of Gaza City, including the shelling of a house where soldiers had forced Palestinian civilians to assemble;
Seven incidents concerning "the shooting of civilians while they were trying to leave their homes to walk to a safer place, waving white flags and, in some of the cases, following an injunction from the Israeli forces to do so;"
The targeting of a mosque at prayer time, resulting in the death of 15 people.
A number of other incidents the Report concludes may constitute war crimes include a direct and intentional attack on the Al Quds Hospital and an adjacent ambulance depot in Gaza City.
The Report also covers violations arising from Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, including excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators, sometimes resulting in deaths, increased closures, restriction of movement and house demolitions. The detention of Palestinian Legislative Council members, the Report says, effectively paralyzed political life in the OPT.
The Mission found that through activities such as the interrogation of political activists and repression of criticism of its military actions, the Israeli Government contributed significantly to a political climate in which dissent was not tolerated.
The Fact-Finding Mission also found that the repeated acts of firing rockets and mortars into Southern Israel by Palestinian armed groups "constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity," by failing to distinguish between military targets and the civilian population. "The launching of rockets and mortars which cannot be aimed with sufficient precisions at military targets breaches the fundamental principle of distinction," the report says. "Where there is no intended military target and the rockets and mortars are launched into civilian areas, they constitute a deliberate attack against the civilian population."
The Mission concludes that the rocket and mortars attacks "have caused terror in the affected communities of southern Israel," as well as "loss of life and physical and mental injury to civilians and damage to private houses, religious buildings and property, thereby eroding the economic and cultural life of the affected communities and severely affecting the economic and social rights of the population."
The Mission urges the Palestinian armed groups holding the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to release him on humanitarian grounds, and, pending his release, give him the full rights accorded to a prisoner of war under the Geneva Conventions including visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Report also notes serious human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial executions of Palestinians, by the authorities in Gaza and by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
The prolonged situation of impunity has created a justice crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory that warrants action, the Report says. The Mission found the Government of Israel had not carried out any credible investigations into alleged violations. It recommended that the UN Security Council require Israel to report to it, within six months, on investigations and prosecutions it should carry out with regard to the violations identified in its Report. The Mission further recommends that the Security Council set up a body of independent experts to report to it on the progress of the Israeli investigations and prosecutions. If the experts' reports do not indicate within six months that good faith, independent proceedings are taking place, the Security Council should refer the situation in Gaza to the ICC Prosecutor. The Mission recommends that the same independent expert body also report to the Security Council on proceedings undertaken by the relevant Gaza authorities with regard to crimes committed by the Palestinian side. As in the case of Israel, if within six months there are no good faith independent proceedings conforming to international standards in place, the Council should refer the situation to the ICC Prosecutor.
The full report can be found on the web page of the Fact Finding Mission:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm
For further media information: contact Doune Porter, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Tel: 1-917-367-3292 or +41-79-477-2576. Email: dporter@ohchr.org
* The members of the Fact Finding Mission are:
Justice Richard Goldstone, Head of Mission; former judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Professor Christine Chinkin, Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science; member of the high-level fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun (2008).
Ms. Hina Jilani, Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan; former Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders; member of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur (2004).
Colonel Desmond Travers, former Officer in Ireland's Defence Forces; member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations.
Labels: Gaza, Human Rights, Israel, war crimes
