Human rights situation in the OPT – CHR – Summary record (excerpts)

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Forty-ninth session

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE 53rd MEETING

Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva,

on Thursday, 4 March 1993, at 10 a.m.

Chairman:  Mr. ENNACEUR  (Tunisia)

Later:  Mr. GARRETON (Chile)

CONTENTS

Consideration of draft resolutions and decisions relating to agenda items 7, 8 and 17

Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world, with particular reference to colonial and other dependent countries and territories (continued)

The meeting was called to order at 10.30 a.m.

CONSIDERATION OF DRAFT RESOLUTIONS AND DECISIONS RELATING TO AGENDA ITEMS 7, 8 AND 17

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Draft decision 6 (Human rights dimensions of population transfer, including the implantation of settlers and settlements) (E/CN.4/1993/2, Chap. I, Sect. B)

11. Mr. CISSE (Secretariat), referring to the financial implications of the draft decision, said that the estimated cost of the activities provided for under the draft decision was US$ 29,300 in 1993.

12. Mr. BLACKWELL (United States of America) said that although the United States like other members of the Commission, was concerned about the subject-matter of the draft decision, his delegation would oppose the decision.  It was of a highly political nature and its adoption would not be conducive to the peace process initiated in the Middle East.  Moreover, the draft decision took no account of the new policy recently defined by the Israeli Government regarding the cessation of the implantation of settlements in the occupied territories.

13. At the request of the representative of the United States, draft decision 6 was put to the vote.

14. Draft decision 6 was adopted by 48 votes to 1.

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QUESTION OF THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO COLONIAL AND OTHER DEPENDENT COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES (agenda item 12) (continued) (E/CN.4/1993/7 – E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/55; E/CN.4/1993/36-40, 41 and Add.1, 42-49, 75, 76, 79, 82, 86, 95, 99, 102 and 105; E/CN.4/1993/NGO/6, 8, 12, 16, 23, 26-28, 31 and 38)

41. Mr. MASRI (Syrian Arab Republic) said that there had recently been a resurgence of acts of violence perpetrated by Israel in southern Lebanon, where the rights of the population continued to be violated.  Lebanese villages were the targets for heavy shelling and air raids, and there were countless victims and losses.  Israel had turned the territories it occupied in southern Lebanon into a veritable base for aggression.  Indeed, the Ambassador of Lebanon had referred, before the Commission, to the human rights situation in southern Lebanon and had given details of the policy of aggression and human rights violations carried out there by Israel.

42. The international community, and in the first place the Commission, must put an end to that spiral of violence.  The Commission had already very often expressed its concern at Israeli practices in southern Lebanon, which were regarded as flagrant violations not only of the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also of the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.  The Commission had already very often requested Israel to comply with Security Council resolution 435 (1978), which called for Israel's immediate withdrawal from the territories it occupied in southern Lebanon.  But Israel persisted in its policy; it flouted all the relevant international instruments and all the Security Council resolutions.  The international community must therefore compel Israel to comply with those resolutions and to respect the fourth Geneva Convention and the other principles of humanitarian law.  In resorting to mass deportations and executions, Israel was in violation of article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convention.  The most recent example of that was the deportation of 415 Palestinians in late 1992.  Although, by resolution 799 (1992), the Security Council had condemned that unlawful action, which was a violation of the commitments entered into by Israel under the Convention, and although it had requested Israel to repatriate those Palestinians, who were living in very harsh conditions, Israel refused to comply.

43. The peoples who were the victims of a policy of colonization should be able to count on the international community's support.  The heroic Lebanese resistance movement had embarked on a legitimate struggle to restore Lebanon's complete sovereignty.  Israel should be made to implement the relevant Security Council resolutions and, in particular, resolution 435 (1978), and to withdraw from the territories it occupied.

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80. Mrs. SILVERA NUNEZ (Cuba) said that the Norwegian representative obviously knew nothing about the situation in Cuba.  None the less he did not hesitate to spread false information which was provided to him by small ill-intentioned groups with which he had close ties.  If Norway was as objective as it claimed to be, why did it maintain links with the Zionist regime in Israel, why did it not support the just and legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people to achieve self-determination, and why did it not call upon Israel to put an end to its policy of oppressing that unhappy people?  Also, how could the Norwegian Government justify its relations with South Africa's racist regime?

81. Norway had been the first Nordic country to lift sanctions against South Africa officially, and it had in any event always collaborated with the apartheid regime, particularly in the nuclear field, notwithstanding the censure of the international community.  The Norwegian delegation would have been entitled to concern itself with the situation in Cuba if it had expressed opposition to the policy of apartheid or support for the restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people during the discussion on the question of racism and racial discrimination and on the situation in the occupied Arab territories.  The Norwegian representative would perhaps be better advised to concern himself with the human rights situation in his own country, where abuses and excesses were also committed, in both the judicial and the administrative fields, particularly against migrant workers.  A public debate on Norway's human rights record would perhaps enable the truth about that country to become known.

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The meeting rose at 1 p.m.