Report of the Human Rights Council/Israeli settlements – GA Third Cttee debate – Summary record (excerpts)

Third Committee 

Summary record of the 45th meeting 

Held at Headquarters, New York, on Wednesday, 13 November 2013, at 3 p.m. 

 Chair:  Mr. Tafrov …………………………………………………………………  (Bulgaria) 

Contents 

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Agenda item 64: Report of the Human Rights Council

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Agenda item 64: Report of the Human Rights Council (A/68/53 and A/68/53/Add.1) 

3.  Mr. Henczel (Poland), President of the Human Rights Council, introducing the report of the Human Rights Council (A/67/53), said that the Council had made significant progress in dealing with human-rights issues in the seven years since its establishment. Syria had remained high on the Council’s agenda and the mandate of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry for the Syrian Arab Republic had once again been extended. The Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had also been established, and existing special procedures mandates for that country, and for Myanmar, Iran, Belarus and Eritrea, had been extended. 

4.  The Council’s creative methods of work had facilitated its dialogue with States. Interactive dialogues with high-ranking officials from the Central African Republic and Somalia had been held at the request of the States themselves, a commendable initiative. The Council had continued to discuss human rights issues concerning the Occupied Palestinian Territory and had adopted a number of other country-specific resolutions in the context of technical cooperation and capacity building. 

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15.  Mr. Strickland (United States of America) …

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16.  His delegation was concerned by the Council’s discriminatory treatment of Israel. It called on Member States to abolish the Council’s biased agenda item dedicated to Israel and to ensure that the Council addressed human rights in Israel and the Palestinian territories in the same manner as it did human rights elsewhere. 

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52.  Ms. Rasheed (Observer for the State of Palestine) said that the independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, had noted in its report to the Council (A/HRC/22/63) that the Government of Israel had been carrying out illegal settlement activities since 1967 with the aim of annexing Palestinian land by changing the demographic composition, character, geographical nature and status of the Territory, thus preventing the establishment of a viable Palestinian State and undermining the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. The occupying Power was continuing to construct the separation wall, 95 per cent of which was on Palestinian land, while checkpoints, obstacles to movement and the permit regime associated with the wall impaired the Palestinian people’s social and economic life and violated their human rights. 

53.  Israel’s illegal colonization campaign was a serious breach of international law and constituted a war crime. The occupying Power’s plan to build 20,000 settlement units in Occupied Palestine, unmasked recently by an Israeli non-governmental organization, revealed Israel’s contempt for United Nations resolutions and for the international consensus that settlement activities should cease. By continuing with its settlement campaign, Israel was violating its obligation under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court not to transfer its population to the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The violence and intimidation perpetrated by a minority of settlers with the aim of forcing Palestinians off their land affected all spheres of Palestinian life. Protected by the Israeli Government, the extremists killed and injured civilians, destroyed property, contaminated water supplies and agricultural land, and desecrated religious buildings. 

54.  Israel could no longer be allowed to flout the law and should bear the consequences of its disdain for the international system. The international community should implement the fact-finding mission’s recommendations, end the settlement activities and ensure accountability for human rights violations. Israel should withdraw all of its settlers from occupied Palestine and compensate its Palestinian victims. 

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72.  Mr. Montwedi (South Africa) …

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74.  … His country also welcomed the attention given by the Council to the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, as the practical enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms hinged on the realisation of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian peoples. 

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82.  Mr. Rahman (Bangladesh) … Bangladesh appreciated the continued attention given to the human rights situation in the State of Palestine and urged the Council to remain seized of the issue until the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people was realized. 

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The meeting rose at 6.20 p.m. 

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