World News
Ex-UN HRC chief to investigate ‘violations and abuses’ in Israel-Hamas conflict
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council has created a three-person commission that would probe the Israel-Hamas conflict over “alleged violations and abuses.”
- The commission will be led by former UN Rights chief Navi Pillay.
- The commission will submit a report by June next year.
The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council announced on Thursday that ex-UN Rights chief Navi Pillay will head a three-individual panel that would investigate the “alleged violations and abuses” in Israel and its occupied territory.
A former South African High Court judge, Pillay became the global group’s High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2008 up to 2014.
The other members of the panel would include Miloon Kothar, former UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, and international expert Chris Sidoti, Special Advisory Council for Myanmar founder.
Based on the report by the Associated Press, the commission was assembled due to the recent tensions between Israel and the militant group Hamas. The armed conflict, which spanned for 11 days, reportedly resulted in at least 13 Israelis and 250 Palestinian deaths, per Reuters.
The commission is tasked to probe “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,” according to the UN joint resolution issued in May.
The resolution would be also investigating “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.”
According to the AP, the commission would be submitting a report to the council in June 2022, and one report for every year by 2023 onwards.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet noted that the recent strikes launched by Israel against Gaza could be treated as war crimes. She also noted that Hamas had violated the international humanitarian law when it launched rockets to Israel.
Israel has condemned the UN’s establishment of the commission, saying that the Human Rights Council is biased against its interest, the AP reported.
Source: The Hill
GomeznSA
July 25, 2021 at 1:16 pm
I can save them a lot of time, money and effort – their ‘conclusion’ WILL state that it was ALL Israel’s fault*. I’ll settle for 10% of the money (gold or silver bullion please) they will waste in their ‘investigation’ and they can use the remainder for flood relief in Europe.
*name one time the useless nations hasn’t blamed the Israelis for anything that goes wrong in the Middle East.
Richard
July 25, 2021 at 11:51 pm
Agree. That worthless, and dangerous, conglomeration of countries on the UN HRC is a joke. Many violate human rights on a daily basis. And don’t you liberals even try to accuse the US as being one of those abusers. Our citizens enjoy more freedoms than anyone in the world, though there are certainly countries whose citizens also have mostly similar access to the freedoms we have enjoyed, However, those freedoms seem to be deteriorating as fast as Joe Biden’s cognitive function.