COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sixty-first session
SUMMARY RECORD OF THE 14th MEETING
Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva,
on Monday, 21 March 2005, at 10 a.m.
Chairperson: Mr. WIBISONO (Indonesia)
later: Mr. ESCUDERO MARTINEZ (Ecuador)
CONTENTS
RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION
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CONSIDERATION OF THE REPORT OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL WORKING GROUP ON THE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DURBAN DECLARATION AND PROGRAMME OF ACTION ON ITS THIRD SESSION (E/CN.4/2005/20)
The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.
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64. Ms. AL-HAJJAJI (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), speaking on behalf of the member countries of the League of Arab States, …
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68. The Arab States denounced the racist practices of the State of Israel towards the Palestinian people. The Palestinians were subjected to serious discrimination as a result of a number of laws promulgated by the State of Israel and designed to expand Jewish colonization to the detriment of Palestinian Arabs. Thus, pursuant to a law of 1950 on the right of return, any Jewish person had the right to return to Palestine whereas the Palestinians had been stripped of that right after having been driven off their land. Pursuant to the law of 1952 on nationality, any Jewish immigrant had the right to Israeli nationality as soon as he or she arrived in Israel. Subsequent amendments to that law had further reinforced the racial nature of those provisions by authorizing the Ministry of the Interior, on the one hand, to grant Israeli nationality to any Jewish person who had the right of return, even before arrival in Palestine and, on the other, to take away Israeli citizenship from any person believed to pose a threat to the country’s security. The property legislation justified confiscating land from Palestinians in order to give it to Jewish colonists. Furthermore, the construction of the security wall, which isolated Palestinians from their natural environment and often entailed the destruction of their houses, was obvious discrimination reminiscent of the apartheid regime in the former South Africa.
69. In view of the foregoing considerations, the Arab States invited the Special Rapporteur to visit the occupied Arab Palestinian territories in order to prepare a report on those racist laws and practices for presentation to the Commission and the General Assembly at their next sessions.
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74. Mr. YIMER (Ethiopia), speaking on behalf of the African Group, said that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance were of course vital issues for the African Group. Slavery, colonialism and apartheid had ruined the African continent. It was because of those evils, that Africa was currently experiencing poverty and underdevelopment. The African Group supported all peoples suffering under foreign occupation and, in that regard, hoped that the Palestinian State would soon be established.
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Document Type: Summary record
Document Sources: Commission on Human Rights, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Subject: Agenda Item, Racial discrimination, Self-determination
Publication Date: 21/03/2005