Human Rights Council tenth session/General segment – Situation in Gaza, statements – Press release excerpts)

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL HOLDS GENERAL SEGMENT, HEARS STATEMENTS

FROM STATES AND OTHERS ON THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

General Segment

ZAMIR AKRAM (Pakistan), speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, …

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The Organization of the Islamic Conference condemned Israel's frequent attacks in the Palestinian territories, which had resulted in massive violations of the rights of the Palestinian people. The Council in its ninth session had called for a fact-finding mission and requested the High Commissioner and other Special Procedures to report on illegal Israeli actions against the Palestinian people. The Islamic Conference looked forward to those reports and hoped the Council would consider them in an impartial and non-politicized manner. It also hoped that Council members would support the Organization of the Islamic Conference's traditional resolutions on Occupied Palestine and the Syrian Golan at this session.

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ABDULLA FALAH AL-DOSARI (Qatar) observed that the Council was now entering a new stage. Now that it had finished its institution building, it had three years to show how effective it could be with regard to the protection and promotion of human rights. This session was being held at a time when the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had just been held. The Declaration was the basis for combating human rights violations and inequality. The Council had a duty to support justice and eliminate inequalities, including in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Gaza Strip, where the use of prohibited weapons had caused the deaths of many civilians including women and children. The international community had to deal with these human rights issues, or many would wonder about the good faith of the Human Rights Council to attack all human rights violations that had become intolerable. The Council could not continue to pursue its policy of neutrality, and needed to find the resources to protect Palestinian civilians so that an independent Palestinian State could finally be created and Israel would withdraw from the Occupied Territories.

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SALEM SAEED AL ZAABI (United Arab Emirates) …

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The occupied Palestinian territories had witnessed a new Israeli aggression at the beginning of this year which left more than 1,000 martyrs, including innocent civilians, women and children. This aggression had left Gaza destroyed and it needed to be reconstructed. Israel had used weapons against Gaza that were banned by the international community. The international community had to assist the Palestinian people. Partnership and dialogue were all the more important today. The world was facing serious times and had to put hatred behind it and work towards peace. The United Arab Emirates would work together with the Council in order to achieve human rights for all.

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For use of the information media; not an official record