PHA-Exch> CETIM petition to the Ninth Special Session of the Human Rights Council re Gaza

[Claudio Schuftan]

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Ninth special session
Joint written statement submitted by the Europe – Third World Center(CETIM),
a non-
governmental organization in general consultative status, American
Association of Jurists
(AAJ), non-governmental organization in special consultative status
The UN Human Rights Council must stop war crimes and crimes against humanity
in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)1
As European and Israeli human rights organizations, we are urging the UN
Human Rights
Council to intervene and call to an end of the war crimes and crimes against
humanity being
committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) as part of the Israeli
occupation forces
ongoing attacks in the Gaza Strip. At least 660 persons, including children
and women, have been
killed and over 3 000 Palestinians have been injured. Without the external
intervention of the
international community, the civilian population of the occupied Gaza Strip
will inevitably
continue to suffer heavy losses; this is confirmed by Israeli Defense
Minister Ehud Barak's
assertion that this is a "war to the bitter end" and Foreign minister Tsipi
Livni answer to the French
request for a 48 hours truce, " nothing will interrupt the pre-established
plan".
Grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention amounting to war crimes, have
been
committed, including, killings and extensive destructions of property not
justified by military
necessity and carried out unlawfully and with premeditation. Furthermore,
the continuing collective
punishment of the Gaza strip has left medical services unable to deal with
the increasing number of
victims.
As member States of the UN Human Rights Council, you are fully apprised of
the human
rights situation in the OPT, thanks to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
of Israel earlier this
month. The dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip was a dominant
concern raised by numeral
States during the review. Despite recommendations to Israel concerning its
obligation to improve
the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, the capacity of Gaza's
civilian infrastructure to
respond to the humanitarian needs of the population after days of
bombardment has now reached a
breaking point. You have further been notified by Special Rapporteur Richard
Falk of Israel's
failure to cooperate with his mandate and his call on "all Member States, as
well as officials and
every relevant organ of the United Nations system, to move on an emergency
basis not only to
condemn Israel's serious violations, but to develop new approaches to
providing real protection for
the Palestinian people.
1 This declaration was drafted in collaboration with Alternative information
Center (AIC), National Lawyers Guild (NGL) and French Jewish Union for Peace
(FJUP).
We note that the Security Council has thus far failed to take concrete steps
despite the
gravity of the situation. However, General Assembly President Miguel
D'Escoto's statement that
"the time has come to take firm action if the UN does not want to be rightly
accused of complicity
by omission" offers a platform for concrete action that should be supported
by the Human Rights
Council.
It is our considered judgment that the only effective measure the UN Human
Rights Council
can take under these specific circumstances is to issue a resolution
requesting the General
Assembly to convene under GA Resolution 377, "Uniting for Peace," with a
view towards the
imposition of collective measures against the Israeli Government.
We believe that such a step would halt the escalation of civilian deaths,
offer hope to
civilians in despair over the political deadlock and ultimately serve the
long-term interests of peace.
WE URGE THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL:
- to adopt a resolution condemning unequivocally Israel for violation of
international
humanitarian and human rights law ;
- to recommend to General Assembly to address this question, referring to
Resolution 377, in
view of the failure of the Security Council on this subject.
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