Report of Human Rights Council/Human rights in the OPT – GA Third Cttee debate – Press release (excerpts)

Third Committee

35^th Meeting (AM)

THIRD COMMITTEE SUSPENDS CONSIDERATION OF FIRST-EVER REPORT

OF HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) suspended its consideration of the first-ever report of the Human Rights Council amid divisions between delegations about how to proceed. 

The Chairman, in his opening remarks, noted that the General Assembly referred the report to the Committee “on the understanding that the Third Committee would consider and act on all recommendations of the Human Rights Council to the General Assembly, including those that deal with the development of international law in the field of human rights”.  The General Assembly would consider the annual report of the Human Rights Council at its plenary meeting.  That division of work was agreed on the understanding that the Council only began its work in June 2006 and would be reviewed before the next session of the General Assembly, he said. 

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The representative of Myanmar also spoke in exercise of the right of reply, in response to statements made on human rights questions during an earlier meeting, as did the representatives of China, Israel, Russian Federation, Iran, Canada, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Colombia and Japan.  The observer of Palestine also spoke in exercise of the right of reply.

The Third Committee will meet again at a time and date to be announced in the United Nations Journal.3

Background

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met today to conclude its general discussion of human rights topics.  For background, please see press release GA/SHC/3864 of 30 October.

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At its first special session, the Council adopted a resolution expressing grave concern at the violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people caused by the Israeli occupation and deciding to dispatch an urgent fact-finding mission headed by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.  The resolution urges Israel to immediately release arrested Palestinian ministers, members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and other officials, as well as other arrested Palestinian civilians, and further urges all concerned parties to respect the rules of international humanitarian law and to refrain from violence against the civilian population.

At its second special session, the Council adopted a resolution strongly condemning the grave Israeli violations of human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law in Lebanon.  Under the terms of the resolution, the Council decided to dispatch a high-level commission of inquiry comprising eminent experts on human rights law and international humanitarian law “to investigate the systematic targeting and killings of civilians by Israel in Lebanon”.

Statements in Right of Reply

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The representative of Israel agreed with his Palestinian counterpart on the importance of context.  The situation of the Palestinians today was one of their own making, however.  They had been free to elect a government that would work with Israel, but it did not.  Israel was deeply concerned by the humanitarian situation and human rights of the Palestinian people but, sadly, that interest was not shared by the Palestinian leadership, with Hamas only interested in terrorism.  Hamas must recognize Israel, implement agreements concluded with Israel and halt acts of terrorism.  Just a week ago, the Hamas Foreign Minister had said that Israel was a foreign element in the Middle East that would never be recognized.  Israel had embarked on a number of security measures to limit the number of terrorist attacks; recently the French Foreign Minister had reconsidered his position on the wall after learning that terrorist attacks in its vicinity had fallen by 80 per cent.  The lack of genuine commitment on the part of the Palestinian leadership meant that Israelis and Palestinians had been left waiting.

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The observer of Palestine said that whenever she listened to statements by the representatives of Israel, she could not help but wonder if they were aware of the atrocities that had been conducted by their Government as an occupying Power.   She agreed that there were two sides to the story: the Israeli side and that of the rest of the world.  Human rights organizations, even in Israel, had recognized the myriad of human rights violations against the Palestinian people.

Regarding the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, she said Israel was in no position to lecture anyone on who should govern, when there had not been one Israeli Government that had not violated United Nations Security Council resolutions.  Every single Government had committed war crimes and State terrorism; every one had been responsible for civilian deaths and the theft of Palestinian land.  Hamas had not been the reason for the situation.  Regarding Gaza, it was an open-air prison that was still under occupation, and Israeli bombardment continued.

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For information media • not an official record