Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

oPt

OPT: Human Rights Council holds special session on Gaza report

Listen to the News

The United Nations Human Rights Council is holding a special session in Geneva to decide whether to endorse the Justice Richard Goldstone report on the Israeli military offensive in Gaza earlier this year.

The report was tabled before the Council two weeks ago, but a vote on it was delayed to give member state more time for consultations. Patrick Maigua reports from Geneva.

The report by the Justice Richard Goldstone fact-finding mission concluded that during the January 2009 conflict, both the Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian armed groups committed actions amounting to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

The report also recommended that the situation in Gaza be referred to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor. Speaking at the start of the special session, UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pilay said she backed the report and urged the council and the international community to give it full consideration.

"I also wish to underscore the necessity for all parties to carry out impartial, independent, prompt, and effective investigations into reported violations of human rights and humanitarian law in compliance with international standards. Accountability for breaches of international humanitarian law and for human rights violations, as well as respect for human rights, are not obstacles to peace, but rather the preconditions on which trust and, ultimately, a durable peace can be built. All human rights are equal for all human beings, and no party can claim that, in defending or supporting its own population, it is allowed to disavow the rights of others. All parties have an obligation to respect the human rights of their own people, of their own neighbours, of all."

A draft resolution submitted by Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, is calling on the council to endorse the recommendations contained in the Justice Richard Goldstone report.

The resolution is also calling on all United Nations bodies to ensure the recommendations of the report are implemented in accordance with their respective mandates. Patrick Maigua UN Radio Geneva.

UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pilay

"I also wish to underscore the necessity for all parties to carry out impartial, independent, prompt, and effective investigations into reported violations of human rights and humanitarian law in compliance with international standards. Accountability for breaches of international humanitarian law and for human rights violations, as well as respect for human rights, are not obstacles to peace, but rather the preconditions on which trust and, ultimately, a durable peace can be built. All human rights are equal for all human beings, and no party can claim that, in defending or supporting its own population, it is allowed to disavow the rights of others. All parties have an obligation to respect the human rights of their own people, of their own neighbours, of all."