Human rights situation in the OPT – GA Third Cttee debate – Summary record (excerpts)

Third Committee

Summary record of the 34th meeting

Held at Headquarters, New York, on Monday, 30 October 2006, at 10 a.m. 

 Chairman:   Mr. Al Bayati  ……………………………………………………….. (Iraq)

Contents

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Agenda item 67: Promotion and protection of human rights (continued)

(b)   Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms ( continued)

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The meeting was called to order at 10.15 a.m.

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Agenda item 67: Promotion and protection of human rights (continued ) (A/61/36, 97, 220 and 280; A/C.3/61/5)

 (b)   Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms (continued ) (A/61/211, 267, 281, 287, 289, 306, 311, 312, 324, 325, 338, 340, 348, 352, 353, 384, 464, 465, 476, 506 and 513)

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24.   Ms. Rasheed (Palestine) said that under the Israeli occupation the Fourth Geneva Convention and other instruments of international law were being constantly and deliberately violated. Even during the most productive years of the peace process, Israel had continued to kill and maim civilians. Over 10,000 Palestinians, including more than 350 children and 120 women, were being held in Israeli prisons or detention centres with extremely limited access to families and to legal representation.

25.   Israel continued to confiscate land and had nearly completed the construction of the wall of separation, in violation of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice. The occupied Palestinian territories were being severed into isolated enclaves. Palestinians were being displaced and their livelihoods were being destroyed.

26.   Excessive force was being applied in Gaza. Civilian infrastructure, homes and institutions of the Palestinian Authority were being destroyed and Palestinian civilians, including democratically elected Palestinian officials, were being detained. Hundreds of families in Gaza had been forced to flee their homes after receiving calls from the Israeli forces to abandon their homes.

27.   It was difficult to reconcile Israel’s commitment to the rule of law with the human-rights violations being committed against the Palestinian people.

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38.   Mr. Normandin (Canada), …

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40.   Canada was very concerned by the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel should expand access to the territories and the Palestinian Authority should take measures to control and prevent violence.

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54.   Mr. Panahiazar (Islamic Republic of Iran) …

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56.   The aggressive policies adopted by certain Western countries on the one hand disregarded gross violations in areas directly or indirectly under their influence, while on the other, unjustly criticized countries not considered allies. The appalling situation at Guantánamo Bay, the disclosure of torture in Iraqi prisons by occupying forces, the existence of secret detention centres in Europe and the inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people by the Israeli regime were but a few examples of gross violations of human rights committed by the self-proclaimed champions of human rights.  …

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The meeting rose at 1.10 p.m.

This record is subject to correction. Corrections should be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned within one week of the date of publication to the Chief of the Official Records Editing Section, room DC2-750, 2 United Nations Plaza, and incorporated in a copy of the record.

Corrections will be issued after the end of the session, in a separate corrigendum for each Committee.