U.N. rights council urges Israel to take 99 steps

[luke]

U.N. rights council urges Israel to take 99 steps

The U.N. Human Rights Council called on Israel Tuesday to take nearly 100 measures, from lifting its blockade on Gaza to releasing Arab detainees.

The 47-member-state Council adopted its list of 99 recommendations by consensus at the end of a two-day review of Israel's human rights record.

Under a new mechanism, known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the records of all United Nations member states are to be subjected to scrutiny every four years.

"Israel remains committed to reinforcing areas in which we are succeeding and bettering those areas that need improvement," said Israel's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Aharon Leshno Yaar.

He said the dialogue had been "positive and productive," and thanked those delegations which had acknowledged the "many complexities in our region."

Israel is to report back to the Geneva-based forum in March on how it plans to follow-up on the recommendations.

During a heated debate last Thursday, its neighbours accused it of committing systematic violations against Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Delegations from Syria, Egypt and Iran raised concerns about Israel's security wall, its detentions of young Palestinians, and what they called "illegal" Jewish settlements.

But senior Israeli officials told the talks that Gaza had "become a hotbed for terrorist preparations and a launching pad for repeated missile attacks." More than 200 rockets and mortar shells were fired on Israel from Gaza in the past four weeks, according to its delegation. Israel has stepped up a blockade of Gaza in response.

Israel's main ally, the United States, did not take the floor at the Council, where its delegation has observer status. The Bush administration suspended its participation last June, citing the forum's "rather pathetic record."

The Council has held three special sessions looking at Israel's treatment of the Palestinians since the body was created in 2006.

The latest recommendations included one for Israel to issue a standing invitation to all U.N. rights investigators. It has allowed eight U.N. investigators to visit the country in the past three years, according to Leshno Yaar.

Richard Falk, the Council's special rapporteur on human rights in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, said on Monday that Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip amounted to a "crime against humanity" and should be investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Falk, an American Jew who is an international law professor, also said that an urgent effort should be launched at the U.N. itself to ensure protection of the people of Gaza.

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from http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/12/09/africa/OUKWD-UK-ISRAEL-RIGHTS.php

A statement released yesterday by UN special rapporteur Richard Falk on the situation in Gaza:

"In recent days the desperate plight of the civilian population of Gaza has been acknowledged by such respected international figures as the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of the General Assembly, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Last week, Karen AbyZayd, who heads the UN relief effort in Gaza, offered first-hand confirmation of the desperate urgency and unacceptable conditions facing the civilian population of Gaza. Although many leaders have commented on the cruelty and unlawfulness of the Gaza blockade imposed by Israel, such a flurry of denunciations by normally cautious UN officials has not occurred on a global level since the heyday of South African apartheid.

And still Israel maintains its Gaza siege in its full fury, allowing only barely enough food and fuel to enter to stave off mass famine and disease. Such a policy of collective punishment, initiated by Israel to punish Gazans for political developments within the Gaza strip, constitutes a continuing flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention...(continues)"

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See also here for a run-through of the Human Rights Council's recommendations to Israel and here (.pdf) for a summary of the various UN committees' and special rapporteurs' reports on Israel's observance of human rights and international law.

also see here for loads of statements by individual human rights organisations - Amnesty, HRW, Al-Haq, Defence for Children International, and so on.

[faceless]

It's good to see that Egypt are saying something - they seem to have kept out of things a lot in the past few years.

[nekokate]